Jinchūriki in the Shell
by Darth Selendis
Summary: Naruto had worked hard to prove himself as an organic shinobi and gain the acceptance of the village, only for his dream to be ripped away from him. With Naruto struggling with what he has become, his friends try to help him reestablish his humanity while a mysterious woman encourages him to free his ghost and become something greater. Which way will his ghost lead him in the end?
1. Alpha v1,0

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

 _ **A/N:**_ This story is the result of a challenge from a personal friend. I will warn any readers that do decide to give this story a shot, updates on this story will be slow unless I either finish my main story or have enough time write more for this story in particular. I have agreed to publish a minimum of one chapter per month for this story. If I have the time, I will try to update more often, but until The Battle for Ascendancy nears completion, my work schedule might not allow for more than once or twice a month.

As for the challenge specifics:

1\. The story primarily focuses on Naruto and Team 7 with the technology and influence of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. If you aren't familiar with Ghost in the Shell, just expect there to be some sociological, philosophical, and existential examination, debate, and reflection by the various characters in addition to intrigue and action.

2\. Guns and other ordnance (ie: nukes, bombs, missiles) are not allowed but think tanks, armored suits, and even vehicles are allowed. (Just to make it more difficult for me to tie these two worlds together)

3\. Motoko Kusanagi has to be incorporated in some form. Some liberties may be taken to ensure smooth integration into the world but nothing too OOC. Other members of Section 9 are optional.

Any feedback or suggestions that will make the story deviate too far from the points listed above will be taken into consideration, however, the challenger will make the final decision. Any other feedback is always appreciated. If you have any questions, however, please sign in when you review or send them in a pm so I can respond to you directly as the challenger does not want review responses posted in the chapters.

With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the story.

Edit 7/26

 **Alpha v.1.0**

* * *

They say that evolution is what drives the advancement of technology. If humanity hadn't developed a logical mind, we would have never correlated the importance of controlling fire or creating spears or tools to kill fresh prey or harvest edible plants instead of relying solely on scavenging like our ancestors did. Without such a mind, we would have never equated building a shelter, cultivating edible plants, or domesticating animals as necessary to guaranteeing the survival of our species. We would have never taken measures in stockpiling food to ensure we could eat heartily during the leaner months and increase our chances of surviving through winter.

With the primary goal of survival being assured, it was only natural that evolution demanded that we invest that surplus energy, previously used for gathering, into the medium that had ensured our survival.

Technology.

After all, evolution only serves to ensure that we adapt to our environment in order survive and propagate. With the success of technology removing the greatest threats to our survival, it was only natural that our ancestors decided to invest in that technology even further.

With an advancing mind, advancing technology followed. Developing the wheel to travel and aid in establishing agriculture. Developing complex social systems and customs in order to elevate ourselves from the more simple minded creatures that dwelt in the world.

To become the dominant species no matter what the cost.

Even with our inherent natures to fight with and dominate each other for more resources and better technology, humanity still banded together in order to ensure our dominance over every other species.

Sometimes I wonder if our advanced mind had also been the cause of all the dirtier aspects of humanity. Did our penchant for hoarding food to ensure our survival give birth to greed and envy? Were our violent natures due to a result of showing our dominance to predators who would try to compete for the same prey? Did civilization give rise to these behaviors since our primary instinct to survive had been fulfilled?

Looking through history, it would seem that theory is completely plausible. The advancement of technology throughout the ages had only focused on two areas. How to make things easier for us to live, and how to kill things that stood in our way.

Even the bones of our earliest ancestors reveal violent deaths from conflict against our fellow man. Throughout history, one constant that has been present in our world has been conflict. The number of dead from all the documented wars in the world was almost half the estimated population that has ever existed in the world since our species first appeared.

Considering the fact that healthcare and birth rates have only been increasing exponentially in the past century, that figure paints a pretty bleak picture.

In our last war against the country of Tsao Liu, an estimated 265,000 lost their lives with an additional 38,000 dying from the subsequent revolution attempts and usual unrest that occurs when one country was conquered by another. All that death to absorb a country whose religious beliefs are completely against the goal of the current ruling emperor of our illustrious country.

While my beliefs are similar to the goals of the Nehan empire that I was born in, I find it difficult to believe that forcing our beliefs onto people would help with what we are trying to accomplish. In order for someone to open their minds to our idealism, they need to be at ease and happy with their current situation. You can't reach enlightenment with anger, hatred, or envy dominating your thoughts.

It was foolish to rush people into a new way of thinking. Religion wasn't created overnight and had been a prevalent and shaping force for humanity for centuries on end. For good and ill, religion has had a dominant role in human behavior throughout history and leading up to the modern era.

Religion had taught tolerance, understanding, peace, and goodwill while conversely teaching bigotry, arrogance, judgmentalism, and zealotry. Religion had taught to give to charity and take from infidels. Religion had spawned missions to deliver humanitarian aid and conquer peaceful countries. Religion had saved and murdered innocent lives.

And since the primitive aspect of our human minds calls on using domination or force to overcome another dominating force, even the empire had fallen victim to their own sense of zealotry. Espousing the need to enforce the Idai Setsuritsu (The Grand Establishment) on humanity in order to achieve our vision of peace through joining all of humanity through one consciousness so there could no longer be any misunderstandings or confusion.

Instead, it only drove the people we were trying to save and enlighten to fight and reject us even more.

I can't say that I blame them. If our situations were reversed, I might feel the same way, but it has always been difficult for me to associate with the rest of humanity.

Ever since I was a child I have been fully cybernetic. In truth, the only organic parts of my body are a handful of brain cells and, literally, two pounds of flesh needed to ensure that the nutrients needed to keep my remaining brain cells and bionic parts alive are absorbed properly.

Back then, cybernetic prosthesis were in the early stages of development and lacked a lot of the government required standard functionality that could be found in prosthetic bodies in this age. Sensory receptors to translate scents, to mimic taste or touch. Pain receptors to prevent you from causing severe damage to the delicate electronics required for motor control and the artificial skin that tries to conceal it all. Hell, there were even glitches in the control software and interference with specific technologies that could shut your body down or make you spasm out of control.

Being the age that I was when my body was replaced, I missed out on most of the defining moments that a person goes through as they grow and mature as a human being. Instead, I had to deal with anxiety, lack of concentration or focus, short-term memory loss, and sleeplessness until the doctors figured out that my brain had remained in a state of hyperactivity. All because it was trying to trigger non-existent glands necessary for the hormonal changes that occurred in the brain and body with the onset of puberty. Eventually, the doctors figured out to treat the symptoms by giving me hormone therapy while increasing the rate of my body swapping from every 4 years to every year.

I am still working on paying off my 13 and 16-year-old bodies to this day.

Restrictions on how much I could modify my new bodies had been put into place until I reached the age of maturity to ensure that I didn't have an identity crisis or a mental breakdown. If the changes to my body, face, and voice wouldn't have triggered such a breakdown, it seems foolish of them to think that my hair and eye color would have a stronger impact. It wasn't like I was requesting a male body all of the sudden.

Personally, I think I might have enjoyed my body a bit more had I been allowed to make some changes. To this day, I prefer my purple hair and red eyes over anything else. It makes my body uniquely mine. Well, besides the numerous top secret combat modifications of course. Still, if it wasn't for the custom hair/eye colors and the secret combat modifications, I would be no different than the other 700,000, give or take, women that have purchased the same chassis as me. Even with 25 different facial variants, the odds of finding someone with the same configuration as mine was still high.

Back in the early days of full cyberization, there were no psychologists who were capable of helping a person adjust. Not only was it an entirely new phenomenon, but only those who absolutely needed a new body to survive were allowed to undergo the process. Most of the people were still debating on having their minor cyberbrain implants installed since the emperor had not decreed them to be mandatory at that time. The only frame of reference the therapists had for treating psychological scars of this magnitude was for severe quadriplegics which was nothing like becoming a cyborg.

They just didn't understand the reality of being a full cyborg and what you lost because of it.

As I grew older I began noticing my detachment from everyone else. While I wasn't without friends growing up, it was difficult for me to associate with children my own age who had not gone through the same experiences that I had. They were either overly fascinated with my prosthetic body or constantly pointed out the limitations of my body. Whether these actions were intentional or not didn't really matter as it would still make things difficult for me to come to terms with.

I guess it was easier for them to ignore their own insecurities or flaws by pointing out my own.

Back then, there were very few children that had undergone the procedure at the same age as me, and cyberization and prosthetic bodies were still in the very early stages of development. Most parents were willing to shell out more money to get organ transplants or partial cybernetic enhancements to cure their children's injuries or ended their suffering because they couldn't afford to save them with either partial or full cybernetics. The number of parents willing to accept an experimental procedure was less than two dozen and the results of those procedures remained confidential unless the procedure was government sponsored.

The number of those body replacements conducted by the government was less than a handful, myself included.

The only reason that I had undergone the procedure was due to the fact that I had no family or next of kin to decide otherwise. All that I was told was that my family had died in the same accident that left me crippled and in a coma for almost a year.

A family I couldn't even remember.

When the doctor and scientists came to offer me a chance at a new life, to be free of my damaged body and once again walk in the sun, it was an easy choice. All it would cost me was to serve my country in return for the costs of the procedure and my new body. A concept far too complex for a 6-year-old girl to truly understand, but I find myself looking back on these past 12 years with few regrets.

To this day, I have never recovered memories of my past. Sometimes I would have vague dreams of unfamiliar locations or flashes of nostalgia that are fleeting. Sometimes the look of an item, how it feels, or how certain food tastes and smells is enough to invoke some indiscernible feelings in me but even those flashbacks are few due to my sensory organs being entirely digital.

Only recently has technology reached a level to where sense receptors in skin and taste receptors in your tongue were sophisticated enough to pick up the subtle nuances that an organic body could. Even then it still took time for manufacturers to develop accurate representations of products that cyborgs had longed for once their senses had gone digital. Particularly in the realm of cyborg food.

With my lack of memories, nostalgia was rare for me and I had often debated if this was the reason why I had lacked the more typical aspects of humanity. Emotions rarely guide my actions and situations that would leave most people irrational, I can view with a calculating eye, applying logic or reason based on my observations alone. I can swap my body as needed regardless of age or gender and have no problems with adapting, and I have little to no need for external memory devices beyond the few that soothe my ghost. The only thing that stays with me constantly and why I am such a firm believer in the doctrine of Idai Setsuritsu (The Great Establishment).

My ghost.

Establishing peace through understanding of each other by the creation of a global consciousness. Allowing humanity to connect to each other on a deeper level through cyberization and a connection to cyberspace. It is just like any other idealistic dream of any visionary who seeks to elevate humanity for some gain.

In my own personal belief, humanity actually needs to take the idea one step further, but there are far too many people who are still tied to the call of their organic bodies or the memories of a time when they did have one to push that idea. Unless they have had the same experiences as most cyborgs, they wouldn't be capable of grasping the concept completely and suspicion and superstition would only drive them away from the first step toward humanity's enlightenment.

I truly believe that only by freeing our ghosts will humanity reach the enlightenment needed to establish true peace.

It is rare that you will find anyone that isn't fully cyberized who is in tune with their ghost completely. The closest thing you will find is someone who follows their emotions, but they never fully seem to connect with their ghost entirely. The pressures of society, their friends, or the inherent instincts of their natural bodies interfere with that truly deep connection that comes from being free of any constraints. Preventing them from freeing their ghosts from all the inherent flaws of mortality and becoming something more.

Greed, Hatred, Jealousy, Envy, Lust and any other negative emotions that lead to conflict and war are simply eliminated. With no mortal shell to bind you to such emotions, there is no illogical response to hormonal influences. Instead, such urges could be simply settled with your imagination and some data in cyberspace. Even if a person had these characteristics before entering cyberspace, they would have everything they need to settle these emotions completely until they eventually just faded away.

Even all the positive aspects of a natural body are easily accomplished in a digital format. Happiness, Euphoria, Contentment even Love are all easily accomplished in cyberspace.

Love is the one "emotion" that naturalists often argue can't be synthesized. In truth, I believe it is easier to create a bond of true depth and strength without the restrictions of a body to distract you. If there was no body for you to lust over, how could you determine what makes you compatible with your chosen partner? There is no shallow need for specific body type, race, sex, or physical attributes blinding you from the true personality or characteristics that make up a person.

By linking together in cyberspace and sharing your memories and minds, you gain an in-depth knowledge beyond anything that can be established through verbal communication or physical contact. You gain an intricate understanding of that person through connecting with the ghost that defines their very being.

None of this would have been possible without the advent of technology and in some strange way evolution had swapped places in importance with technology. The idea of freeing our ghosts and establishing something as sophisticated as cyberspace to create a massive consciousness wouldn't have been possible without the advancements we had made in science and medicine.

People who couldn't have children now had several different options for creating new life. Insemination, Surrogacy, or Modified Cloning were all now viable options within the Nehan empire for those who no longer had the means to create a child naturally.

For fully cybernetic couples, modified cloning was the only option that allowed the merging of two genetic samples into one new being based on the dominant and passive traits each partner had. Since everyone who had swapped into a fully prosthetic body had their original organs and DNA preserved, it was a simple matter of obtaining the original genetic material of each parent to form a zygote that could be hosted in a surrogate or a fertilization facility.

Even if the entirety of humanity did decide to go cyborg completely, we have the technology to ensure our races survival for the foreseeable future. That is not including the fact that we would eliminate all the other threats to humanity such as disease, pollution, and even overpopulation if the right measures were taken. Not everyone would accept abandoning their body completely but there would be enough to have an impact on the population overall.

Looking at the number of people who suffer from closed shell syndrome, you can correlate those numbers with people who are willing to leave their bodies behind and that would be at least a few million people who no longer require food for sustenance or space to reside in. Eventually, more people would see the benefits of a life in cyberspace and, with time, fewer people would remain behind leaving AI to keep things running smoothly with occasional oversight by people downloading their ghosts into android bodies or even operating bodies remotely.

At any rate, the only way for humanity to advance now is through radical change. The same thing that had influenced evolution, to begin with. Things that were unable to adapt to such changes would inevitably die. For humanity, the only way to solve our problems in the future is to evolve once more, but this time instead of evolution spurring the advancement of technology, it will be technology that will guide our final evolution and bring us peace.

 **February 15** **th** **, 2229**

 **2** **nd** **Expeditionary Carrier Group – Valhalla Flagship – Southern Ocean**

* * *

In the center of the Aegis Carrier a darkened room is filled with two dozen men and women who were holding quiet conversations with each other. A small group of uniformed men enter the room revealing the Captain of the ship, a Yeoman, and the Admiral of the Carrier group. After pressing a few buttons on his datapad, a projector lights up showing a holographic display appearing behind the officers.

"Settle down, please, so we may start this briefing and lay down the ground rules for establishing contact with the locals." The Captain said before waiting for a few minutes for everyone to settle down. With the room silent once more, the Captain introduced the Admiral and stepped aside.

"I am sure you have all heard some of the rumors flying around the ship so I am here to confirm what we have learned so far." The Admiral said before pressing a button on the holographic display to change the image being projected behind him.

The image displayed a faded world map that was dated with the year of 2024.

"As you all know, a great deal of knowledge about our world was lost during what historians believe was the First Nuclear World War. A war which saw the first usage of EMP bombs alongside old nuclear warheads and hydrogen bombs that were popular for the militaries of the world at that time. It was believed that almost all major population centers across the world were struck with a combination of those three weapons of mass destruction greatly reducing the population of the planet and changing the very layout of the world. It was during that period that we lost most of our knowledge of chakra and experienced a major setback in technological advancement across the world. Technologies we are still trying to recover over 200 years later." The Admiral said before turning his focus to the map behind him and pressing another map to bring up a more modern map to compare the old against.

"As you can see the only time the continental layout changed dramatically was directly after the First war due to the excessive use of high payload nuclear and hydrogen bombs. Even with the onset of the Second and Third Nuclear Wars and Non-Nuclear Fourth World War, however, the amount of damage done to the world and the faces of the continents involved with them were not dramatically altered due to the restraint we had learned from observing the damage caused by the suspected first war." The Admiral said before taking a small drink of water to wet his throat.

"What does this history lesson have to do with this mysterious continent and why we are here?" A man called out, gaining the murmuring approval of a few other impatient people in the room.

"I will get to that shortly." The Admiral snapped. "It may not seem pertinent but this information is important for you to understand the situation with the people living on the continent we discovered. So pay attention or I will have you and your company struck off the list of those approved to establish themselves on this new continent." The Admiral said firmly before studying everyone in the room with a glare. When everyone remained silent, the Admiral continued.

"If you paid attention to the map we have shown you, it becomes apparent that the continent previously known as Antarctica had seemingly disappeared at some point between the First war and the Second war. With the amount of chaos and confusion following the post-war years and the onset of the second war, no one bothered to learn when or why that continent disappeared." The Admiral said while pointing to that section of the world. "After the effects of the nuclear winter of the first war our ancestors triggered an accelerated form of global warming to restore the world to a more favorable climate to prevent a mass extinction event. As the climate stabilized and humanity began to resettle the abandoned continents once again, a war was triggered and the Second Nuclear War began. Back then the popular theory amongst the scientists was that the lack of ice floes in the southern seas were simply a casualty of the warming process since the continent was believed to be primarily made of ice sheets. With the Artic and Greenland glaciers remaining marginally intact after the accelerated warming, it was simply believed that the rising oceans were a result of the loss of Antarctica instead and with the start of the second war, any research trips to explore the southern pole were canceled." The Admiral pressed another button to reveal satellite images taken of the new continent from space.

"What we have discovered recently, however, was that the continent had been concealed from the world through some form of lost chakra manipulation technique or advanced barrier that somehow managed to essentially conceal the entire continent in a pocket dimension of some sort for over 200 years. The only reason we have rediscovered the continent at this time was because of a malfunctioning weather satellite that drifted from its geostationary orbit." The Admiral explained before changing the projected image once more.

This time, there were several photos displayed side by side that garnered the interest of the room and small conversations began to break out between them. The images showed a handful of villages with an odd mix of early and late 20th-century architecture and technology being used by the people. The way most of the people dressed and behaved were also like a melting pot of modern and traditional customs from the old Nehan empire back when the country was known as Nihon or Japan.

The Admiral changed the image once more to show a video of combat between the natives of the country and the group was in disbelief at what they saw. The looping video displayed a battle between various men and women fighting with feudal era weaponry while wielding chakra in ways that even the most advanced chakra powered androids weren't capable of using. The way that these fully natural warriors were capable of using chakra to enhance their strength, speed, and even climb walls and walk on water while launching elemental attacks at each other was nothing short of amazing.

"As you can see from the footage one of our recon scouts had managed to capture, the natives of this continent have managed to advance their knowledge of chakra manipulation to levels we have previously considered impossible without the usage of sophisticated AI to control it. From our brief observations these warriors are more than capable of standing up to our cybernetic and mechanized forces just by using chakra alone, especially since our emperor has decided to honor the Nuclear and Ordinance Disarmament Treaty and has eliminated everything but small arms from our military in favor of chakra weaponry and traditional weapons." The Admiral changed the image once more to several still images of the battle and began to point out to each one as he continued with the briefing.

"Not only do these people have advanced control over chakra but their base reflexes, coordination, and even basic muscle structure have seemingly evolved to much higher levels because of their frequent use of chakra. On top of that, the chakra itself is much different than what we are familiar with in our homeland and other areas of the world. This excess chakra has seemed to alter the evolution of these people in numerous different ways." The Admiral said as the images showed people with strange mutations in their bodies, eyes, and even skin and hair colors that were abnormal but obviously natural. "While these results are all preliminary and still require in-depth study, it is imperative that you understand just how different the natives are when compared with others. They may look exactly like us but their evolution has essentially been driven down a separate path than ours. Please keep this in mind when you are developing and creating cybernetics, implants, or any other items and consumables that you design on this continent and how the differences in materials and chakra levels may affect consumers of your products back home." The Admiral looked around the room and saw no one had any objections or questions so he continued.

"The information our recon teams have been able to gather covertly has been slim at best. The abilities of these people to detect and find intruders are top notch. Not even the most advanced thermal optical camouflage has been able to escape the detection of their warriors who seem to be capable of using tracking methods that lock on to foreign scents, sounds, and even chakra from what our spies have determined." The Admiral said.

There were several exclamations of surprise around the room with that information.

"Fortunately, our recon scouts have managed to evade capture and full exposure so far, but there have been several close calls with each recon group so all scouting and infiltration missions have been frozen per the emperor's orders and the diplomatic corps has been working on establishing a dialogue with the different population centers that have been established. For now, those involved in the Inception corps will be restricted to establishing a dialogue with the village leaders and encouraging the acceptance of technology and cyberization with an end goal of guiding the people into accepting Idai Setsuritsu." The Admiral said before motioning to a Yeoman who was standing by with an armful of datapads in various colors. "The Yeoman here has all the information we have gathered from our early recon teams and the rules of conduct we have found to ensure the most success for establishing a dialogue with the natives."

After the Yeoman passed out the datapad and left the room, the Admiral changed the image on the projection screen which broke down the various nations of the continent and images of the leaders for each nation.

"As many of you have observed from the previous images, Feudalism is the primary source of social customs and government on the continent. The Daimyō controls the laws and a vast army of samurai to govern and protect the nation as a whole with a series of nobleman and advisers to guide him. Directly below the Daimyō are the Generals who lead his Samurai army and the leader of the local shinobi village who is identified as a Kage." The Admiral left the image up for a few more minutes before switching to the image of a village that had the image of a young man with spiky blonde hair and large sidebangs.

The village itself looked quite quaint to those who were used to the large cities of Nehan and other countries around the world. Set against a large rocky plateau with four faces carved into the stone, the village was the same odd mix of traditional wooden buildings with electrical lines running between them. There were giant walls several stories in height surrounding the village that was set into a thick and verdant forest.

"This village is known by the locals as Konohagakure no Sato or "Konoha" for short. The image you see here is the current leader or "Hokage" named Minato Namikaze. For the purposes of diplomacy please ensure that you refer to him as Hokage or Yondaime at all times. Remember this guy is a dictator in all but name so he commands the entire shinobi force in the village. It wouldn't be wise to piss this guy off and set our goals back by offending him. From what our sources have learned, he is more than able to back himself up if needed." The Admiral said sternly.

"What about approaching the other villages or the Daimyō themselves?" A woman from Kyokutō corporation asked.

"At this time, the Emperor has restricted all corporate operations to the shinobi villages on approval only. Currently, the imperial diplomats have only successfully opened a dialogue with the Fire Daimyō and have gained his permission to approach the Hokage and attempt to establish ourselves in Konoha only. This is likely his way of ensuring that our motives are genuine without taking any risks." The Admiral gave the group a serious look. "What better way to keep an eye on our operations than to make us set up shop in a village full of assassins and spies."

There was some more hushed conversation in the room as the different corporate groups discussed this revelation with each other. While the Nehan empire's goals espoused integrating other countries into the Idai Setsuritsu through diplomacy and economic enticement, the overall goal was to ensure that a nation was integrated into the Grand Establishment. Government oversight on the corporations wasn't tightly controlled and they were allowed a great amount of leeway in their operations as long as they didn't do anything to damage the image of the empire or emperor himself. When you include the fact that lucrative rewards were offered for each person that embraced cyberization and eventually integrated into the Grand Establishment, then it was only natural that some corporations were more than willing to take risks on trying to corner the market on implants and prosthesis in a new territory. Not only would this ensure their profit margins remained satisfactory, but they could also gain political and economic clout in both the new continent and in the empire as well.

The conversation was halted once more when the Admiral spoke up again. "Remember, any actions that garner the animosity of the natives will be punished harshly and we will most likely hand you over to the natives for suitable punishment and disavow all persons implicated. If the crime is deemed severe enough to impact the reputation of the empire itself than we may also cancel corporate operations within the village or continent entirely. It should go without saying that the natives still make use of capital punishment for many of the grave offenses and the conditions of their prisons do not follow conventions laid out by the United Nations, given the fact that this continent has been in complete isolation for hundreds of years at least."

"How do we approach the subject of their isolation? Is there an official position we are taking on this or shall we consider the subject as taboo?" One of the corporate officers asked.

"From what our diplomats have discovered, they have no recollection of the world at large in their history. Time has seemed to affect them at a different rate while the barrier was active. We are still trying to correlate the events with our world to their own independent timeline but we can't be entirely certain when their barrier actually failed." The Admiral said before pulling out a smaller datapad and pressing a few buttons. "From the oldest legends in their history, one man of immense power blessed their lands with the gift of chakra and taught them how to use it to manipulate the elements to make their lives better over 1000 years ago. Ironically the man's goal was almost identical to our own, to establish peace by linking everyone through the use of chakra instead of technology. At some point when that man passed on and left his legacy to his children, instead of working together to continue the peace the two brothers gathered their followers into two factions and started a war over different ideologies on how to establish the peace their father desired. The war waged across the continent and caused massive casualties before both brothers died and the war ended. With the main leaders dead, the two factions eventually broke apart and the people scattered into various different clans or family groups that warred against each other for some time. Eventually, various clans with similar ideologies decided to band together to form the current system we see now. The feudalistic system has only been in place for a few hundred years and during that time, they have experienced three great wars with the last one only recently ending a few years ago." The Admiral put the datapad away before he continued with his answer. "For now, there are no restrictions when it comes to sharing knowledge of the world to them, besides any classified information of course. Keep in mind that we want to encourage the natives to accept integration with the world at large. The current peace that the continent is enjoying is tentative at best and there is a great deal of suspicion and mistrust of outsiders by the people so expect cold shoulders from most of the populace."

"Admiral, you mentioned a difference in how time elapsed on this continent in comparison to the world at large. Does this time difference still exist and will it cause problems when we try to synchronize with the global network?" Another woman asked.

"All tests that our science teams have conducted have concluded that there is no longer any difference in how time elapses between our world and their continent ever since whatever concealed their world disappeared." The Admiral answered with ease. "The only thing that seems to remain constant is the climate even though the continent sits in a location that should make it practically inhabitable. Whatever was used to conceal the continent in the past is still maintaining the climate that existed while the continent was hidden. We are still studying how they have managed to establish such a sophisticated method of climate control but since chakra is inherent in all of our bodies the scientists are confident that these methods present no health risks to us even after prolonged exposure."

"You mentioned earlier that their weapons were all traditional. Are there any restrictions on the types of weaponry we are allowed to bring for our own security forces?" A bulkier man asked.

"For now all Guns, Think Tanks, Armored Suits, Non-humanoid Androids, and electronic surveillance equipment is not allowed until the natives are more comfortable with our technology. Items like stun gloves, tasers, bladed or blunt weapons of any type are allowed as long as the items you bring don't violate any village rules." The Admiral listed off before adding. "Remember that these people are only beginning to utilize electricity in the form of appliances and artificial lighting but a great deal of the village still uses more primitive methods of communication when chakra isn't capable of fulfilling those needs. In fact, the primary method of communication between villages is to use messenger hawks or sentient creatures that they call summons. These animals are tied to some form of blood contract to specific people and are given the same rights as most people so be careful about how you treat animals, insects, or other creatures that you might run into during your time in the village."

"Is there any way for us to identify these creatures in comparison to any normal animals?" A man asked.

"That we aren't entirely sure of, honestly. Our diplomats and recon teams have not encountered any of these summoning creatures but from the information that was given to us by some of the Guardian Shinobi of the Daimyō, the animals may or may not be wearing clothes or other identifying markings, and they are all capable of speech to some degree. The only other thing we were warned about was their unusual size, one of the shinobi was adamant that there were summoning animals that exceeded heights of 50 meters or more." The Admiral answered.

There were some sounds of disbelief amongst the group as they digested that information. It seemed that the isolation of this continent had caused some strange evolutionary changes to occur and wondered just how different things were on the continent.

"If there are no more questions, then I will conclude this briefing. Any information that the recon, science, and diplomacy corps have recovered have been included in the datapads that have been handed out. For now, we will maintain the same channels for communication until the new satellites have been launched and enter orbit above the continent. After that, all military channels that have been on loan will become restricted to military personnel once again." The Admiral said before he turned and left the room with the Captain following behind him.

Not long afterward, the different corporate groups split up and began making plans and deals on how to make their approach and establish a corporate office on the new continent. It was definitely going to be challenging trying to entice an isolated continent into embracing the benefits of advanced technology but these teams were comprised of the best and brightest minds in the private sector.

Not only were they interested in creating a whole new market to operate in but the potential for advancing their own technologies with the advanced methods of chakra manipulation being displayed by the natives offered all kinds of possibilities. The weapons manufacturers, in particular, were interested in developing stronger chakra based weapons since heavy weapons and explosives had all been banned by the international community. Many weapons manufacturers were on the verge of bankruptcy since the Nuclear and Ordinance Treaty was ratified by the empire and many of them were desperate to find a new product to manufacture to keep their companies alive.

It had been hard enough to retrofit their tanks and armored suits to fit the new requirements but utilizing chakra as a power source for weaponry and cybernetics was still in the early stages of development. While there are some android and AI driven tanks that were capable of causing significant damage, the accuracy and power were inconsistent and nowhere on the scale of what they witnessed the shinobi using, and the shinobi were not even using cybernetics in any form.

Humans using chakra in such a manner had only been considered myths from ancient times. Stories and legends from before the first war that were inconsistent and questionable at best. Now it was clear that the people of this continent had somehow isolated themselves at some point during or after the First Nuclear War and had taken an evolutionary path completely different from the rest of the world. They would be among the first to study and document these changes and hopefully use them to advance the rest of the world while earning a nice profit in the process.


	2. Beta v1,0

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 ** **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking****

 _ _ **Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts**__

 _ _Mental Communications__

[Chat Box/Text communication]

Edit 7/26

 **Beta v.1.0**

 **April 21** **st,** **2239**

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower – Konoha**

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared out over the village with a weary sigh. The sound of construction crews working throughout the village was a jarring reminder of just how much the face of Konoha was changing. The old shinobi tried to convince himself that it was for the best, but it was hard to accept how quickly this foreign technology had taken hold in _his_ village. Perhaps his suspicions and trepidation at how quickly the foreigners had established themselves within Konoha were due to old habits that were hard to be rid of, but those habits had kept him alive through two wars and numerous other attempts to end his life through overt and covert actions.

It wasn't hard to be suspicious of their motives given how much control the foreigners had over the technology and the means of which the people connected to and interacted with it. Any decent shinobi would feel uneasy when faced with an opponent that held all the cards, and he would have never been granted the title of Hokage if he hadn't proven to his sensei that he was cautious and calculating. The sad thing was that he knew these foreigners held all the cards and there was nothing he could really do about it but try to stem the tide of their influence.

All of the younger generations had been caught up in the snare of technology, embracing cyberization and the wonders of technology that the foreigners had dangled in front of them. Personally, Hiruzen couldn't understand how anyone could so willing trust someone to tamper with their brain or bodies in such an invasive manner, but the numbers didn't lie.

Half of the active Jōnin, two-thirds of the Chūnin, and 97% of all Genin had embraced cyberization to some extent. While most of them had only opted for minor augmentation of their bodies in addition to the implants necessary to connect to the LATTICE intranet, the numbers of shinobi that had started to augment their bodies to make up for any weaknesses was growing rapidly. While he could understand any shinobi desiring to give themselves an edge, Hiruzen feared that the benefits of hard work and physical training were being thrown to the wayside in favor of relying on technology to make up the difference. A technology that was controlled by a foreign empire that was known to be imperialistic by nature.

Originally, the Kyokutō corporation had wanted to encourage cyberization of the populace in order for them to connect to a worldwide network called HAEvN or Human Advancement and Evolution Network. Their presentation had pushed the establishment of HAEvN as a method of bringing peace to the world by linking everyone physically through the network and making them part of what they called Idai Setsuritsu or the Great Establishment.

The Emperor of Nehan believed that by connecting humanity through a shared consciousness, an understanding for peace could be established and all wars and conflicts could be ended through diplomacy or even simulated combat, if necessary. This would prevent bloodshed and allow the victors to be determined through global consensus in the blink of an eye. It was the Emperor's singular goal to unite the world under Idai Setsuritsu and he put the full force of his empire behind accomplishing this goal by any means.

At first, the Nehan empire sought to enforce this goal through domination and force. If a nation refused to join they threatened the establishment of peace and were considered a threat to the empire. Naturally, this led to endless conflict and decades of bloody and violent warfare that left millions dead. The death toll only served to taint the idea behind the Great Establishment and many began to see peace as an impossible dream.

In order to keep the goal of creating Idai Setsuritsu alive, the son of the 3rd Nehan emperor deposed his father and put the empire's focus into dominating the world through economic and technological warfare. The Nehan empire was highly advanced in comparison to the rest of the world and since the government heavily funded the education of students who showed a talent for mathematics or science, their technological advantage only continued to grow by leaps and bounds.

Now the Empire used diplomacy and corporations to handle its foreign policy. The corporations would establish themselves within a foreign nation and display all the wonders of technology and the benefits that arose from such conveniences. The more the people embraced the technology the more they would demand their leaders have closer ties with the source of said technology. Eventually, the country would be invited to join the empire with the promise of having influence over the policy of empire by having a representative elected into the Society of the Enlightened. The group of representatives that governed the domestic policy and laws of the empire. (With the Emperors approval of course)

Hiruzen knew that Minato had been aware of the ties that the Kyokutō corporation had with the government of Nehan when they approached him and what their true goals were. That is why he found himself surprised when Minato had approved their entry into the village. Hiruzen didn't know what the Kyokutō corporation had promised to Minato to convince him to allow them to operate within the village, but it must have been something enticing to the idealistic young Kage.

Minato wasn't the type to be easily manipulated by anyone. He had been a cautious, intelligent, and charismatic leader, capable of ensuring the best for Konoha in any foreign dealings. Minato must have seen something promising despite all the risks. It was a testament to Minato's intelligence that he managed to establish effective restrictions to try and protect Konoha in such a short time while still ensuring that they gained the advantages of having such technology.

While Hiruzen had not understood all of the technical details, the Jōnin Commander Shikaku Nara had picked it up quite quickly and had explained it to him in terms he could understand when he had to take over command of the village after the Kyūbi attack.

Once Hiruzen fully understood the restrictions that Minato had put into place, he couldn't help but mourn the loss of such a brilliant young man. Despite lacking intimate knowledge of how the technology worked at the time, the young Hokage had managed to ensure that the amount of influence the foreigners would have would be limited by the restrictions he put into place.

The first restriction was the creation of LATTICE or Local Area Technical Training and Information Center for Education. Any Konoha citizens that had cyberbrains would connect to LATTICE first and foremost. Any information and data in LATTICE was approved by the Daimyō and the Hokage and no external networks were allowed to connect to LATTICE ensuring that there would be no direct control over the network by outside powers.

LATTICE was also filled with training programs and knowledge on all the technology that Kyokutō was willing to share (and anything that Konoha managed to figure out on their own). Not only did this allow the citizens of Hi no Kuni to learn how the technology functioned but it also allowed Konoha to train up their own technicians who could then oversee the technology being used and hopefully identify any nefarious purposes.

The second restriction that was established was the creation of TRELLIS or the Transcontinental Router and Extranet for Logic, Logistical, and Integration Systems. This particular network had required several hours of explanation from Shikaku before Hiruzen could grasp the concept fully, but it had served to prove to the old shinobi that Minato had been wary of foreign influence. TRELLIS was the only way that for networks, programs, or people in Hi no Kuni to connect to HAEvN. Since they had to connect to a completely different network, LATTICE remained safe from any cyberbrain hackers, viruses, or trojans as only a handful of people had access to upload anything to LATTICE.

TRELLIS handled any connections to outside networks and housed all the information and data from foreign sources allowing people to forego connecting to HAEvN if they were simply looking for information on the outside world. If they wanted to link up with people outside of Hi no Kuni for some reason they would have to connect to HAEvN itself and such connections were monitored closely by ANBU operatives. This system also handled communications, GPS, weather, and surveillance systems which made life easier for the shinobi of Konoha without being fully dependent on HAEvN to provide those features.

Hiruzen had to admit that the technology provided by TRELLIS had been extremely helpful. Now instead of messenger birds, messages could be delivered instantly to handheld devices or directly into cyberbrains that were linked to TRELLIS at the time. Shinobi were able to check the weather conditions of the areas where their missions would take place and could use the network to track targets, teammates, or even the best locations to establish camp. Even bandit camp locations and Bingo Book information was being added so that shinobi could verify threats easily.

If he were honest with himself, what disturbed him the most was the whole implantation process. Even though the security measures put into place were well thought out and should guarantee the security of Konoha, Hiruzen couldn't ignore the fact that they were allowing foreign doctors to tamper with the minds of the villagers and shinobi. It didn't help that the actual cyberization process and the creation of all cybernetics were kept secret and tightly controlled by the corporation itself.

Only Kyokutō surgeons were capable of performing the cyberization process and the leaders of the village were not allowed to know how the procedure worked. Kyokutō also tightly controlled any components that were used in the creation cyberbrain implants to prevent anyone else from attempting to reproduce the procedure through experimentation. If it weren't for Danzō's constant attempts to get Kyokutō to reveal the information for the process or even the creation of said components, Hiruzen would have suspected his old rival to have been close to uncovering some method of recreating the process on his own.

It had been amusing to learn just how many Root shinobi Danzō had under his command by reviewing the list of people undergoing the procedure. Kyokutō had no desire to undermine their own goals by covering up for the shadowy organization and had been more than happy to provide a comprehensive list of all patients complete with pictures. The only thing they kept concealed was the level of cyberization that the patient had undergone as that information was considered protected under doctor/patient confidentiality.

The old Hokage's eyes drifted to the nearby park and he couldn't stop the twinge of sadness at how empty the playground was. The sounds of children at play had been one of the things to help cheer him up during the tedium of paperwork and budget reviews. It was just another sign of how successful the foreigners subversion had really been. Nearly all of the children had undergone the cyberization process and would now spend most of their time playing the educational games in LATTICE or socializing in the numerous chat rooms.

Only children who were incompatible with the process, for some reason, or had parents that were against cyberization could be seen playing at the park. To Hiruzen, it seemed like that number was dropping every day.

Briefly, he wondered what would happen to the numerous parks and playgrounds that dotted the village now that children were no longer taking advantage of them. Would the need for parks be removed as more and more people spent time diving instead of going outside? It seemed unreal to him that anyone would want to remain cooped up inside when they could enjoy the warmth of the sun, a refreshing breeze, the sound of birds singing, or even the smell of flowers and trees in bloom.

On the heels of that thought came another. How physically fit would the future Academy students be if they weren't outside jumping and playing? The old shinobi couldn't see how it was possible for the children to start developing strength and endurance without being physically active from a young age. A large part of developing dexterity and hand-eye coordination came from the games a child played at a very young age. If they didn't learn how to control their bodies now it would only set them back in the future, which, in turn, would set Konoha back when it came to the strength of their shinobi.

Perhaps he would have to place a higher emphasis on the physical fitness aspect of the graduation test or increase the amount of time spent on exercise. With the inclusion of technology in the curriculum, however, it might not be possible to divert more hours of the day to simple exercise. They were already pushing the limits of how much the children would absorb with how long they remained in school. Adding more homework or hours of instruction would only prove to be counterproductive. Not only was time an issue, but there was always the risk that the children would turn to cybernetic prosthesis in order to meet those requirements since they no longer spent time being physically active with their natural bodies.

Hiruzen's eyes widened with that realization. The foreigners were far more devious than he realized. That must have been the reason they so freely gave them the capability to create LATTICE and included all the educational games, software, and entertainment programs that they had created. Even if none of their subversive ideas were present in said programs, the children would immerse themselves with technology so thoroughly that it would seem natural for them to forget their organic roots and embrace full cyberization.

The more time they spent diving, the more they would embrace the idealism behind Idai Setsuritsu and in a generation or two, those children would be the leaders and policy makers that controlled Konoha. They would pass their beliefs down to their children and each generation would push them closer to the empire.

The old shinobi trudged back to his desk as his mind raced to try and find a healthy balance between keeping the Will of Fire alive as his sensei and the Shodaime had taught him while showing tolerant but cautious acceptance of the technology that the villagers and shinobi were so happily embracing.

Sitting down with a heavy sigh, Hiruzen reached into his desk drawer and pulled out his trusty old pipe and selected his most expensive blend of aromatic tobacco. Once his pipe was filled and lit, he leaned back and ran through the different options and the potential consequences that could come from those actions.

Despite his reservations about technology in general, he would have to put more emphasis on technological training in both the civilian and shinobi Academies. If Konoha was to survive with its traditions and beliefs intact, they would need to form their own methods of creating and controlling the technology of the future. By taking the control out of the hands of the foreigners there was a greater chance of ensuring that the beliefs of the village founders would remain intact.

It wouldn't be too difficult with the Civilian Academy as they had less mandatory instruction than the Shinobi Academy. They only needed to learn the basics of Math, History, Language, and one of the various Trade specializations that were offered. They could add basic technology training into the main curriculum and offer advanced tech training as an option for one of the Trade classes.

For the Shinobi Academy, however, in addition to Math, History, and Language they had to learn Bukijutsu, Taijutsu, Kanseijutsu (Trapping), the three basic Ninjutsu, and all the training required of a military force such as combat formations, tactics, rules of engagement, the chain of command, etc. The Shinobi Academy already weeded out plenty of unqualified candidates simply due to the massive difference in workload expected of attendants. Adding technology on top of it all was going to make things more difficult.

Still, he couldn't allow the civilians to have the edge when it came to tech knowledge. The military was supposed to be more advanced in all areas so they could adequately protect the village from threats that civilians weren't trained to deal with. He also had direct control over the movements of the shinobi while civilians were free to come and go as they pleased.

Ultimately, it seemed like it would be better to extend the duration of the Academy by a year or two. It had never sat well with him that genin were exposed to such risks as early as age 12. While he had been active at such an age during a time of war, there was no immediate threat to Konoha at this time. While his teammates and rival would probably protest the decision, Hiruzen was certain that most of the clan heads would approve the idea given that all their heirs would be attending the Academy in just a few years time. Perhaps adding some beginning elemental jutsu training and chakra control would be enough to smooth the way for the changes.

Most of the Genso no Kuni (Elemental Nations) were preoccupied with the influx of the foreigners and their technology to make any drastic moves against Konoha. While relations with Iwa were still at an all time low, the situation with Kumo had cooled significantly since Kyokutō had become active in Kaminari no Kuni.

In fact, the Raikage owed him a personal debt since the Kumo council had not been as effective in curtailing the foreigners influence from the start. They had let the corporation into their village thinking they were just another business and before they knew it, the Raikage and the council were at the mercy of their people demanding more access to the Empire and HAEvN. If Hiruzen had not let slip the setup created by Minato to A, the Nehan empire might have established a foothold on the continent already.

Now the Raikage had time to regain control over the populace of his village and change the Lightning Daimyō's mind about giving Kyokutō so much control while still appearing to bend to the demands of his citizens. Hiruzen considered it one of the few victories he has managed against the foreigners.

In only 6 years time the corporation had managed to convince more than half of his military force and two-thirds of the civilian populace to embrace cyberization and the new technology. Over 90% of children under the age of 10 now had some form of cyberbrain implants, and the number of people who had embraced using fully prosthetic bodies had risen by 50%.

At first, it had only been the severely disabled shinobi that had opted to replace their bodies with prosthetic ones. Hiruzen had been reticent to allow fully cybernetic shinobi into the shinobi force, but he had been swayed by the passionate pleas of the shinobi who longed to be able to return to service by any means. He couldn't, in good conscious, smother their hopes and dreams just because of his bias against technology.

In the end, it had proven to be a very beneficial decision for everyone. Almost all of the shinobi on the severely disabled list had volunteered for the procedure which netted an additional 12 ANBU, 78 Jōnin, 115 Chūnin, and 98 Genin to the active shinobi list. Their reinstatement also freed up three dozen medic-nin that had been serving as live-in nurses which helped improve conditions in the hospital. Then there was the fact that over 25 million ryō in monthly disability payments were no longer required. Those funds could now be diverted into programs meant to upgrade and improve the defenses and infrastructure of the village in anticipation of the future growth and prosperity expected.

Even with all the benefits being touted constantly, Hiruzen couldn't help by remain bitter about just how quickly things were advancing. Maybe he was simply clinging to a bygone era in the hopes of proving that he wasn't quite obsolete yet. He had always tried to see both sides to every issue but more often than not all he could see was the negative aspects of embracing this technology.

The old Hokage was drawn out of his inner musings by the sound of his office door flying open unannounced. There was only one person who had the audacity to barge into his office in such a manner and they never failed to brighten his day.

Flying through the doorway like an orange rocket was 6-year-old Naruto Uzumaki. The secret child of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki and the current jinchūriki for the most powerful of all bijū, the Kyūbi. The latter fact, which should have remained classified, had only managed to make life unpleasant for the boy who, in different circumstances, would have been treated like a prince.

While the child wasn't exposed to any physical abuse, thank Kami, he was forced to endure the misplaced grief and scorn of the most thickheaded villagers. Typically this was in the form of charging him ridiculous prices for goods and services or outright denying him entry into businesses or restaurants. Most of the villagers tended to ignore him completely if not shoot him looks of disgust before driving him off with harsh words.

His situation was only made worse when it was discovered that the Kyūbi actively prevented him from receiving any cybernetics. It had been a difficult feat to cover up the true nature of Naruto's insanely powerful healing ability, but with the Kyokutō doctors being unfamiliar with the oddities of bloodlines found on this continent, he had managed to play it off as a trait of the Uzumaki clan. It wasn't like they would be able to find any evidence to the contrary, and the village laws prevented them from trying to delve any further since he was technically considered a member of a clan. Even if said clan only had one member currently.

At first, Hiruzen had taken a secret pleasure in the fact that Naruto would not be exposed to such technology, but as more and more children underwent cyberization, Naruto's situation only deteriorated even further. On top of being outcast by the older generation for the bijū sealed inside of him, the children now had nothing in common with him since all of their time and focus went into diving through LATTICE to interact with each other in cyberspace. This left Naruto with hardly any peers his age to associate with. Even the children of the Naturalist (Anti-cyborg) movement didn't dare associate with him since their parents viewed him as an affront to "maintaining human purity" because of the bijū sealed inside of him.

If it wasn't for his bi-weekly visits with the boy, Hiruzen was certain that Naruto wouldn't interact with anyone besides the Ichirakus and a few of the shops who didn't immediately kick the boy out when he went to purchase food or other necessities.

Naruto bounded up to his desk before sliding to a stop, narrowly avoiding a collision with his desk and the stack of papers waiting to be filed away by his secretary.

"Oi, jiji! Is it time for ramen yet?" Naruto said while bouncing excitedly.

"Hmm. I think it is still a bit early for lunch." Hiruzen replied in a teasing tone, knowing how Naruto would respond.

"Awww. Cmon, jiji! It's always a good time for ramen!" Naruto proclaimed.

"I don't know." Hiruzen paused dramatically before continuing. "I heard from your caretaker that you were behind on your study books this week."

He didn't miss the guilty look on Naruto's face but instead of the sheepish apology or flimsy excuses that the boy would usually give him, he saw a surprisingly dejected expression that was completely out of character for the usually cheerful and hyperactive child. It immediately sobered Hiruzen's teasing mood since he had never seen Naruto act in such a way.

Naruto mumbled something as he looked down and fiddled with the hem of his jacket.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Hiruzen asked softly.

"I met some other kids at the Dango shop and at first it seemed like we could be friends..." Naruto fidgeted some more before he continued. "They told me about how they do all their lessons while diving and how much fun they were. When I told them about my lessons and how boring they were, they started to make fun of me." Naruto said with a sniffle. "After that, they didn't want to be friends with me anymore."

"So that is why you are so upset, hmm?" Hiruzen said with a frown. "You are better off without those kids if they would make fun of you for something so simple. The lessons are meant to teach you certain things, how you learn those things doesn't make you any different than them." Hiruzen said in a comforting tone.

"But jiji, all the kids that do bother to speak to me all say the same thing!" Naruto burst out with tears starting to fall. "They all say that there must be something wrong with my brain or that I'm too stupid to dive like them! Why can't I do everything that they can? Why did I have to be so different from everyone else?" Naruto sobbed as he finally vented his pent up emotions.

The Sandaime pulled Naruto closer to him gently and gave the crying boy a comforting hug while rubbing his back in a soothing motion. His shoulders and back were tense with stress and the old Hokage realized that Naruto must have been hiding his emotions from everyone for some time. It was depressing to see such characteristics in a child his age. He was already learning to keep himself guarded against others and hide his weaknesses because of the hostility of the village. A place where he should feel safe and carefree.

It took Naruto several minutes to calm down to the point where Hiruzen felt he would actually absorb his words and remember them. Kneeling down to his level, he placed his hands on Naruto's shuddering shoulders causing the boy to look him in the eye.

"I know it's hard for you to understand, Naruto, but I will do my best to explain," Hiruzen said as he studied Naruto's expression carefully. When Naruto wiped his eyes and nodded, he continued.

"When you were just a baby, the doctors tried to make it so you could dive like the others, but your body heals too fast and they couldn't put the object inside of you without hurting you." Hiruzen paused to let Naruto absorb that information and give him time to ask any questions.

"Can't they make it so my body doesn't heal so fast?" Naruto asked with a hopeful expression.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. That wouldn't be good for you." Hiruzen said sadly before he quickly added, "However your healing is a good thing, especially for someone who wants to be a ninja like you do. None of those other kids will be able to heal like you do and because of that, you will be a much stronger ninja then they can ever be."

Naruto sniffled a bit before responding. "Will it really help me be a strong ninja?"

"Of course. Even I wish I could have your healing powers," he replied in a placating tone. "In fact, all my ninja would love to have your healing powers. It would help all of them become very strong."

Hiruzen was nervous as Naruto remained silent for some time, mulling over his words. Usually, he could read Naruto's expressions very easily, but right now he couldn't tell what the boy was thinking or feeling.

"So, it's not bad to be different from everyone else then?" Naruto asked tentatively.

"Of course not!" he replied emphatically. "All the clans of Konoha have different abilities from each other. It is those differences that make them unique or special."

Naruto seemed to be placated for a moment but suddenly his bottom lip started to wobble and his eyes began tearing up again. "But I heard that only the kids that can dive will get accepted to the Academy. What if they don't let me go because all of the lessons are on the net?"

"Don't you worry about that, Naruto. I know for a fact that you will be accepted to the Academy." The Sandaime said reassuringly.

"Really?" Naruto said with a painfully hopeful expression.

"Of course! You don't become a jiji without learning a few things." Hiruzen said with a wink, "and this jiji knows for certain that you will be accepted."

"... but what about the lessons?" Naruto asked.

"Don't worry about those right now. You still have time left before you are old enough to join the Academy and I will provide you with everything you need," he said before ruffling Naruto's hair playfully. "Until then, I have a few more special lessons for you to learn before you can join the academy. These are special ninja lessons that most kids don't learn until they complete the Academy."

Naruto's eyes lit up at his words and his usual exuberance came back with full force as Naruto began to bounce in place with excitement. It was amazing to see how quickly the blond could recover from mental trauma. The more bitter part of Hiruzen whispered that the boy had plenty of practice because of the idiots in the village, but hopefully he could counter the mistreatment by giving him a decent head start.

While some on the council might take issue with him personally tutoring the boy, it would only be very basic chakra control exercises, the Academy taijutsu style, and early strength and stamina training to help start building his muscles up properly. Most clan children were already starting such training at this age, and it was something he could easily use a shadow clone to handle. There would be no possibility of them claiming he is neglecting his duties or displaying favoritism.

Once Naruto completed his ranting about learning super awesome jutsu and using magical swords, Hiruzen ushered him out of the office for their weekly ramen binge. As they made their way to the ramen stand, Hiruzen's eyes drifted up to the face of the Yondaime. Perhaps Naruto would be his best answer to stem the tide of the foreigners influence.

He certainly had the pedigree to become more than great. With the right guidance and instruction, he could easily surpass his father and become a person that the villagers would look up to eventually. If he succeeded without a single cybernetic implant, that would go a long way in showing the people that technology wasn't a necessity for success. Humanity had survived and flourished without technology in the first place, and only through overcoming adversity could the trend continue. By using technology as a crutch, humanity was actually stifling their evolutionary growth since the machines were actually doing all the work for them. If Naruto surpassed them all, that would only prove his own beliefs.

As was typical for the man known as the Professor of Shinobi, Hiruzen began creating an outline for his plans and formulating a training program that would help Naruto succeed while at the same time remaining under the radar as much as possible. Knowing just what the Academy would teach and adding the right supplemental training should give him enough of an edge to overcome any disadvantages he would likely face.

If everything went as planned, he might be lucky enough to see young Naruto ascend to the position of Hokage, like his father, and usher in an era of children who desired to rely on their own strength instead of leaning on technology.

 **4 Years Later – Old Village District**

* * *

10-year-old Naruto sped away from his latest pranking target as a handful of Chūnin chased after him shouting expletives and threats. While the pranks themselves were fun to plan and set up, this was what he enjoyed most about pranking people. The adrenaline of being chased and the anticipation of luring his pursuers into the traps he had set up in advance.

Sure the punishments given to him by Hokage-jiji were never any fun, but it was still worth it in his opinion. The idiot villagers tried to put him down as worthless and weak because he lacked the same cybernetic enhancements that all the other Academy students had, but he still managed to come out near the top when it came to all the physical fitness and practical exams the Academy threw at him.

His overall grade only suffered due to his average or below average marks in technology, math, and history. Technology seemed useless for him to study, his body couldn't be enhanced through cybernetics at all and it was a simple matter for him to connect to the net with his portable terminal or the home computer.

While access to the net was extremely limited when compared to diving with the use of a cyberbrain, the basic information was still accessible. With all the supplemental guides and learning aids being inaccessible it was almost impossible for him to gain top marks. Still, he didn't want to disappoint his jiji, so he put in the extra effort to look up other resources online during his free time so that he could at least earn a passing grade in the subject.

Math had always been a struggle for him, but he understood all the basics and maintained a passing grade on the higher level mathematics by studying hard and looking up any extra lessons on LATTICE when he could. None of the other teachers would bother to explain things to him in detail besides Iruka-sensei, and, in truth, Naruto didn't want to constantly pester the only teacher who treated him like a human being.

Jiji had always told him it was better to figure out something on his own if he could, and so far, he had managed to do just that.

As for history, he could care less about the various treaties signed by different villages over 50 years ago. Judging from how much time was spent discussing various wars and how specific strategies were deployed against different combat formations, it seemed like all those treaties had ended in the very same fashion.

One side took advantage of the treaty to attack the other while their guard was down violating the treaty and dragging all their allies into war. Hokage-jiji had told him that it was necessary to have faith in people sometimes. While there was always a chance that they might turn on you, the circumstances behind their betrayal were not always black or white. Treaties also allowed you to learn about your enemies and how they functioned giving you insight on how to best deal with them if they did decide to betray you. Maybe it was just his inner cynic, but it seemed like the second reason was the only valid reason for signing a treaty.

Naruto knew he was jaded when it came to faith and trust in people. While he was outgoing and cheerful with everyone, he knew deep down that many of those people despised him for stupid reasons. He wanted to prove that there was something more to him than the fact that he didn't have any electronics inside of him. That there was more to being a person than being able to plug yourself into a computer.

In some way, he agreed with those Naturalist freaks. While they were overzealous in their approach, some of their arguments were valid. A person who had cybernetics implanted in them couldn't really be considered human anymore.

There was a reason they created the term cyborg. Something that was once organic was combined with cybernetics making them a cyborg. Unlike the Naturalists, however, Naruto was not completely against people having cybernetics if they wanted to. He could admit to the benefits of having cybernetic augmentation when it came to increasing your speed, strength, chakra control, or even your intelligence.

He just hated how the cyborgs considered themselves superior and looked down on him when in reality, they aren't actually doing any of the work.

So what if they could perform twice as many advanced calculations as he could in the same amount of time. That just meant that the computer they had installed in their brain was working properly.

So what if they could smash through a log with ease? He could do the same damn thing, and it didn't cost him an exorbitant amount of money to gain that strength. All it cost him is some time and sweat and he didn't need to perform maintenance on himself twice a year.

In fact, his own chakra control had spurred a few of his classmates into buying chakra control upgrades, which amused him to no end. Not only did the organic brat show them up, but now they had to do extra chores and save up money to try and catch up to him. While that was going on he would continue with the exercises that his jiji gave him and continue to improve. Then when they finally managed to purchase their upgrades, they would find themselves behind him once again because they didn't know the true value of training hard and overcoming their limitations.

Naruto had to wonder what would happen to those fools when he managed to surpass the highest upgrade available for their enhancements or prosthetic bodies. Would their cyberbrains short out from logic errors like some of the androids he had seen students attempting to code? That would be funny to see, as long as they didn't die from it of course. He might not like those arrogant bastards but they didn't deserve death, they would be his comrades in the future, regardless of his personal feelings.

Naruto leaped over a ninja wire trap thrown by one of the pursuing shinobi at the last minute, earning a curse from his attacker. With his mind back into the chase, he began making his way towards the old Hokage tower and Academy complex. Dropping down into the deserted district, he raced down a narrow street with several Chūnin hot on his heels, before he turned sharply into a narrow alley and slid beneath a small hole that had been dug up underneath a tall fence.

This section of Konoha had been heavily damaged during the Kyūbi attack and most of the casualties had occurred in this part of the village as they tried to defend the Academy and the secured vaults inside the Hokage tower. Originally, the council had been determined to rebuild the area precisely as it appeared before the attack, but with some incentive from the Kyokutō corporation, plans for a larger, more secure Hokage tower and Academy were drafted to be moved closer to the Hokage Monument. It was argued that with the population growth that was expected for the village in the next thirty years, the old location for the Hokage tower would no longer be at the heart of the village, where it was intended to be.

Since the company planned to fund the reconstruction completely, the Sandaime couldn't refuse the offer since he could use the funds provided by the Daimyō for the reconstruction of areas that desperately needed improvements, like the defensive walls, the hospitals, and the damaged infrastructure where the Kyūbi had torn through the outskirts of the village during its advance towards the heart of the village.

For now, this area remained derelict as the village council was dealing with a few civilian holdouts who were trying to get more monetary compensation for having their land forcibly re-purposed. Once the village had acquired all of the property, everything would be torn down and a new memorial park and merchant area would be created.

Laughing as he heard a few Chūnin crash into the gate before they could stop themselves, Naruto quickly ducked into another alley and carefully dodged around the numerous tripwires and pressure traps he had set up in the alley. Anyone who failed to avoid those traps would be bombarded with rotten eggs, confetti, garbage, or stagnant, muddy water.

While it was tempting to stick around and watch the devastation, he knew that it wouldn't be long before Iruka-sensei or Inu tracked him down, so he headed towards his escape route. Using chakra to scale up the wall of the old Academy building, Naruto quickly ducked through one of the broken windows and dashed through the empty classroom before hanging a left and making his way down the hall. Carefully avoiding all the traps he had left active, Naruto jumped onto the handrails of the stairwell and let himself slide down towards the basement and the entrance to his secret base.

Once landing at the foot of the stair, Naruto stilled himself and sucked in his breath to still his heart and quiet himself down. Naruto listened intently for several minutes to make certain no one was following him before he made his way towards the far corner and lifted up one of the rotting tatami mats. Slipping through a missing chunk in the concrete foundation, he dropped down into the underground passage, letting the mat fall down to cover the entrance and leaving him in the darkness. Naruto quickly reached into his hip pouch and fumbled around until he found his small flashlight to help him see in the dark.

He had discovered this area by accident while he was exploring the ruins one day. Since none of the other kids in his class would bother to hang out with him during the weekends, he had taken to exploring around the village and the surrounding forest out of curiosity and boredom. It has always seemed ironic to the blond that he could find peace and happiness in the isolation of the woods, but feel so much pain and depression from the isolation of the village. He did everything he could to abolish that loneliness while in the village only to escape to the forest to embrace it.

His explorations of the ruins, however, were always informative and rewarding in various different ways. At first, it had been to overcome his fear of ghosts or spirits. Since all the other kids at the Academy were too frightened or were forbidden to play around in the Old village, Naruto made it his personal playground to prove a point. In the end, he found himself enjoying the mournful solace of the ruins. Unlike the forest which gave him the feeling of a tranquil utopian mirage, the ruins were a sobering cogent of reality. It spoke to the melancholy that he kept hidden deep inside of himself. Plus there was the fact that he had found a lot of useful and highly interesting items and locations while sifting through the ruins.

To date, the best thing he had found was a taijutsu scroll based on the style used by the Fire Temple monks, several ornamental weapons, heirlooms, and all sorts of jewelry. He kept the scroll for himself since having an unorthodox style would be advantageous for him, everything else he pawned off to the second-hand store closest to the Old Village, just in case the relatives or previous owners decided to check the store for any scavenged goods. While frowned upon, there were no real restrictions against entering the Old Village, but most people out of a sense of decorum or fear of "demonic taint" stayed away.

Naruto quickly flicked on his flashlight and made his way down the underground corridor to the find that had the most potential value in his mind.

The old shinobi library.

While most of the contents of the old Library had been scanned and uploaded to LATTICE and access only restricted by rank, there were still scrolls archived inside the new Hokage Tower, particularly the highly protected or forbidden jutsu that even the council were reluctant to copy digitally.

What Naruto had stumbled across, however, seemed to be a cache of scrolls that were forgotten for some reason. Naruto had gone through most of them and so far, they appeared to be nothing more than mundane information about specific chakra natures or bloodlines and some of the general skills that they learned in the Academy. All of that was readily available on LATTICE so he simply tossed them aside and picked through the rest of the boxes whenever he had the time.

There had been several boxes of scrolls that were too damaged to be of any use because of water damage, which was disappointing as he could tell a few of them were jutsu scrolls based on the bits and pieces that were still decipherable.

Naruto pulled out one of the intact boxes of scrolls he had yet to sort through and sat himself down on a stepping stool that had a partially broken leg in the front. Leaning back to maintain his balance, he pulled out the first scroll and studied it closely.

Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker) – D Rank

Naruto let out a low whistle as he read the details. He had seen Inu and several other shinobi use this technique, but he didn't realize they were actually just increasing their speed instead of just teleporting around. With his current level of control, it might be difficult for him to accomplish this jutsu, but it wouldn't be long until he could improve enough to use it.

While he had managed to complete tree climbing and water walking, he still hadn't mastered it to the degree that his jiji had wanted him to. He needed to be able to exercise and spar on top of a moving water source without falling in, and he needed to be able to stand upside down on a tree branch while performing the leaf sticking exercise.

He still couldn't complete the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique) properly, but at least he had four more years to master the jutsu before it became a problem. He was getting closer, only half of his clones appeared distorted or dead now and Naruto was certain he would have it down in time for graduation.

Naruto set the scroll aside for him to take home when the heat died down. He snatched up another scroll and rolled it open eagerly.

Doton: Rokkudōmu (Rock Dome) – D Rank

Naruto had never seen someone use a Doton jutsu before. Judging from the directions it seemed like this was mostly a defensive technique. He wasn't allowed to attempt any elemental jutsu until he had approval from jiji so he would have to keep this one for later. He noticed that there were two other scrolls that had the same brown coloring on the outer edges and picked them both up. Naruto briefly rolled them open to peek at the titles, checking to see if they were mere copies of the first one.

Doton: Doryūsō (Earth Flow Spears) – D Rank

Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) – D Rank

Not copies then, but more earth techniques. He knew that Iwa shinobi were the ones who typically used Doton and wondered if he had an affinity for it. While not considered as "cool" as Katon or Raiton by most, Naruto had started to embrace the fact that he was so different from everyone else as a source of pride in spite of the pain it caused him. Since Katon was the most common affinity for Konoha, he secretly hoped he had Suiton to counter it, but maybe Doton wouldn't be so bad.

Setting those scrolls aside he picked up a blue scroll and rolled it open.

Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) – D Rank

A grin split Naruto's face as he read the details. He would definitely try to learn this one first just to counter that bastard Sasuke's fireball. Sasuke was the only kid who managed to compete with him when it came to any of the practical tests in the Academy. In truth, Sasuke managed to beat him more often than not during spars, and he wasn't nearly as cybernetically augmented as the rest of the kids, so Naruto couldn't use that as an excuse.

The Uchiha clan, surprisingly, had been adamantly against most cybernetic augmentations. Some of the more cynical ninjas claimed it was because there were optical implants that would allow regular shinobi to perform the same feats as the vaunted Sharingan.

Sasuke claimed that no implants could match the true power of the Sharingan, but since the prick hadn't awoken his yet, Naruto didn't lend too much weight to his claims. The only thing he knew about the Sharingan was its ability to track and predict the potential movements of objects or people within its visual range, and the ability to see how the chakra flowed during the use of a jutsu. It was this capability that allowed them to avoid attacks with ease and copy any jutsu that is used within their line of sight.

Naruto knew it was possible for people who had undergone full cyberization to be capable of such things. There were ocular implants and cyberbrains with enough processing power to allow someone perform the same feats. Still, he had to admit it was impressive that the Uchiha had such capabilities through natural means. He might have even gotten along with the Uchiha heir if it wasn't for his blatant hypocrisy.

The fact that Sasuke had cybernetic enhancements to his legs, arms, and torso to increase his strength, speed and chakra reserves made it pointless for him to bash cybernetics overall. It also didn't help that the bastard looked down on everybody. At least he was fair in his disdain, unlike most of the other kids, but that didn't make it easier to like the guy.

Naruto picked up the last scroll and slowly rolled it open.

Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) – C Rank

"Hmm. That one is quite useful, and rare too." A familiar voice rang out next to his ear, causing Naruto to start out of shock and lose his balance. The stool tipped forward, depositing him onto the ground face first.

Naruto quickly sprang up and whirled around to see who the intruder was only to spot Inu casually leaning against the empty scroll shelves.

"Yo." The dog masked Anbu operative greeted him with a lazy wave.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Naruto shouted indignantly, hoping to cover up his embarrassment and fear from being scared so easily. The shaky finger he was pointing at the man gave him away.

"Hokage-sama requests your presence immediately," Inu said in a bored tone. "This is quite an interesting hideout you have here. I am certain that Hokage-sama will want to know all about it," The dog masked ANBU agent paused as he watched Naruto's face pale, "especially those scrolls you were planning on stealing." the man drawled.

Naruto's anger quickly fled after he heard what Inu had told him. They wouldn't really charge him for stealing these ratty old scrolls, would they? This place was abandoned! If they cared about them they wouldn't have left them behind!

"Now wait a minute, I didn't steal anything!" Naruto said as his mind raced for a good excuse. "The scrolls were still here, so obviously they weren't important or someone would have taken care of them!" Naruto's confidence began to grow as his excuse sounded more and more plausible. "Yea, and besides, I haven't taken them anywhere yet so you can't charge me with stealing them!"

Inu just hummed as if he was pretending to listen to what he was saying and giving a generic response so it wasn't obvious that he had ignored everything he just said. Naruto was about to start yelling at the friendly but lazy guardian who had been watching over him for the past 6 years when he was surprised to see Inu bend down and scoop up all the scrolls Naruto had set aside.

Naruto couldn't stop the pout from appearing on his face when he thought Inu was going to confiscate the scrolls. So, it came as a big surprise to him when Inu stuffed them all into Naruto's pocket before grabbing his shoulder and using Shunshin to transport them both to the Hokage's office.

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

A swirl of leaves announced the arrival of Inu and the source of Hiruzen's current headache. He could barely keep the smirk off his face when he watched Naruto stumble around while trying to adjust to the sudden change in speed. It always took quite some time to get used to transitioning from blinding speed to a sudden stop when first learning how to use the Shunshin. Even with all of Naruto's misadventures that required his attention, the boy still hadn't adapted to the rapid acceleration and deceleration.

"Where did you manage to find him this time, Inu?" The Hokage said while he gave Naruto the evil eye. Naruto quailed under the look knowing that he was going to get a fairly severe punishment for what he had pulled earlier. He was certain the large fountain in front of Kyokutō's corporate office was still filled with the chromatic expanding foam trap he had set up.

He had saved up for six months to purchase two industrial-sized barrels of the two-step expanding sealant foam and in the dead of night, he filled the corporate fountain with the primary component and various different food color dyes. Next, he redirected the hose from the fountain pump into the barrel that contained the second component required to create the foam and adjusted the automatic timer to activate the fountain in the afternoon instead of the morning.

Within 10 minutes, vast amounts of rainbow-colored foam began spewing out of the fountain and into the primly manicured landscaping that decorated the front of the corporate office.

The best part was that the foam was highly resistant to removal, so the company would be cleaning up the multi-colored foam for at least a few months, by his estimates. They would probably have to replace the lawn and all the plants surrounding the central courtyard, and the fountain as well. That foam was amazingly resilient to the elements and other chemicals, and it was only fitting that they were the ones who had manufactured and supplied such a product.

"Surprisingly, I discovered him in the basement of the old library," Inu said as he nudged Naruto forward towards the disapproving Hokage. "Not only that, but it seems that he had managed to uncover a few boxes of scrolls that were designated for elimination," Inu said.

Naruto gulped as he saw the Sandaime narrow his eyes. It was bad enough that Naruto could pick up on his disappointment, but the only time the Hokage ever looked at him like that was when he considered Naruto's actions highly dangerous. That only led to even harsher punishments and lectures that always left Naruto feeling ashamed of himself.

"Naruto, how many times have I told you not to go poking around in the Old Village?" The Sandaime said in a stern tone. "There is a reason everyone stays away from that area."

Naruto couldn't stop the snort of contempt following the Hokage's statement. "Please, jiji. You expect me to believe all that nonsense about "demonic taint" and ghosts?" Naruto emphasized his statement by making air quotes when he mentioned the demonic taint.

"That is not the reason I told you to stay out of that area." The old shinobi snapped causing Naruto to flinch in shock. "That area is a no man's land and security does not exist there because most of the buildings are condemned and in danger of falling apart." The Hokage said before rising from his desk and walking up to Naruto. "If something were to happen to you it could be days before someone would come to your aid, and what if it was one of those fools that discovered you instead of the Anbu or myself?" Hiruzen asked rhetorically.

Naruto knew he didn't need to answer, it was obvious that most people would willingly leave him to die instead of helping him. He even suspected that there would be quite a few people who might even take advantage of the situation and try to eliminate him without fear of being caught.

"Promise me you won't explore the ruins any longer, Naruto." The Hokage said as he placed his hand on Naruto's head. Instead of using his usual scolding tone, the request was made with the kind grandfatherly voice that Naruto secretly reveled in. It was a voice that was warm and espoused care and concern for his well-being. It was a voice that Naruto rarely ever said no to.

Naruto sighed before responding. "Fine, jiji, I won't go poking around those ruins anymore, even if it means I can't find any more cool stuff."

"What kind of stuff have you been taking from there Naruto?" The Sandaime asked with a frown. "You know that some of those things belong to the deceased. If their families were to hear about you taking such things you could be in serious trouble."

"I sold all that stuff to the salvage and second-hand store near the entrance to the Old Village, and I didn't even try to haggle for a better price," Naruto said with a huff, he wasn't trying to be disrespectful or dishonest in his actions. "The only thing I kept were scrolls that had different chakra control exercises, a Fire Temple taijutsu scroll, and the scrolls that Inu saw me reading when he found me," Naruto answered honestly.

"I want you to hand over all those scrolls to me Naruto." The Hokage demanded before raising his hand to quell Naruto's protests. "I just need to make sure they are safe and documented in case there is important or lost information. After that, I will let you have copies to study if they are safe for you to learn."

"Aww, that is so not fair, jiji!" Naruto grumbled before pulling out the scrolls he had collected today. "The other scrolls are at home, I didn't carry them with me because I didn't want the others to discover them. I need every advantage I can get, after all." Naruto finished with a pout.

The Hokage took the scrolls and after a discreet glance at Inu confirmed that Naruto wasn't holding anything back.

"I want you to bring me all the scrolls you took from the ruins to me tomorrow, Naruto." The Hokage said in a serious tone.

"Yes, jiji," Naruto said glumly.

He had a feeling that some of the scrolls would be taken away from him since all of the coolest things were "too dangerous" for him or he was too young to learn them. Since he couldn't learn anything like that in the Academy it was the only way for him to maintain an edge over the kids who were all turning to cybernetics to help them make it through the Academy.

"I'll make a deal with you," Hiruzen said gaining Naruto's full attention. "If none of the scrolls prove to be too dangerous, I will give them back to you and allow you to start on your elemental manipulation _if_ you can raise your History and Math grades."

Naruto squinted his eyes as he considered the offer. History wouldn't be too difficult to improve since he hadn't been putting much effort into obtaining more than an average grade at most. Math would be far more difficult to improve in since his grades were already average. Even if they were on the lower end of average instead of the higher end. Perhaps he would have to bother Iruka-sensei for more help after all. It would be worth it to be able to learn that Suiton jutsu he found to show up Sasuke.

"Okay, jiji. But can I at least keep the taijutsu scroll? Taijutsu can't be that dangerous for me to learn and I promise that I won't attempt to use it against anyone until I have it mastered." Naruto pleaded.

"I still need to review it first to be certain that the style doesn't focus on dangerous techniques. There are plenty of taijutsu styles that are highly dangerous and can cause permanent damage if used improperly." Hiruzen explained. "While the chances are low that a style from the Fire Temple would be that dangerous, I can't just allow you to learn something without proper supervision."

"I understand," Naruto said with a frown.

"I have faith that you will improve your grades if you apply yourself, Naruto." The Hokage said before giving the dejected boy a pat on the shoulder. "Now if you could only stop causing so much trouble around the village I wouldn't have to punish you all the time." A smirk appeared on the old Kage's face when he felt Naruto start to fidget nervously again.

"But you don't even like those guys, jiji!" Naruto said with a sheepish expression. "Besides they should have known better than to sell me so much expanding foam. What would an Academy student such as myself need with an industrial sized amount of expanding weather foam?"

Hiruzen merely sighed before returning to his desk and settling back in his chair. His heavy stare bored into the blond, making Naruto's nervousness grow as the start of his punishment was imminent.

"You are going to help clean up the mess you made, Naruto. If you don't then I will cancel my training sessions with you. You have caused too much damage, this time, to let you get away without punishment." Hiruzen decreed in a tone that would brook no arguments. "I may be lenient when the damage is minor and the results of your trouble making are easily cleaned up but when the damage is on this scale it is not easy for me to calm the injured parties down. Especially when the damage to the grounds is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of ryō" Hiruzen concluded.

Naruto gulped as he heard the amount of damage he had caused. That thought hadn't really crossed his mind when he planned the prank. While on some level he knew that it would have been very damaging and would have cost the company some money he had no idea it would cost _that_ much.

"I'm sorry, jiji. I won't do something that bad again." Naruto said with sincerity.

"Good. You will assist them with the clean up every day after the Academy and on your free days until the grounds are cleared and the new fountain is installed. After that is complete you will no longer be allowed to approach the corporate complex unless you have business to attend to there. Do you understand?" Hiruzen added.

"I understand, jiji," Naruto said with a sigh.

With that situation handled, Hiruzen dismissed the castigated blond from his office before he turned his attention back to the remaining paperwork he had to complete. As he reviewed the evidence of the damage to the Kyokutō fountain and courtyard, however, he couldn't keep the smirk off of his face. The punishment needed to be severe because of the level of damage but he had to admit the way the multi-colored foam was erupting from the fountain and sticking to most of the plants and trees in the area was amusing. If the foam hadn't solidified to the degree that it caused permanent damage to remove the stuff, he doubted the company would have done more than ask for a verbal reprimand.

While it didn't please Hiruzen to play this role with the isolated boy, it was necessary for his development. He might still be young now but he was also training to be a shinobi and such behavior would only reflect on him in a bad light in the future. It was time for the boy to start getting more serious about his reputation and appearance to the villagers if he ever wanted to overcome the unreasonable bias against him.


	3. Beta v1,1

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts**_

 _Mental Communications_

[Chat Box/Text communication]

A/N: To determine Naruto's affinities in this story I assigned each of the basic elements a numerical value and used a random number generator to make the final decision. Imagine my surprise when the generator selected the same two affinities I had chosen for Naruto in my other story six times in a row. In order to change things up, I will be swapping his primary and secondary affinities.

Edit: 7/26

 **Beta v.1.1**

 **July 29** **th,** **2245**

 **Shinobi Academy Room 217**

* * *

12-year-old Naruto sat in class with a bored expression on his face. While the rest of the class was watching the mandatory video on LATTICE, he was listening to the audio feed through his datapad while his eyes scanned over the latest scroll the Hokage had given him.

These past three years had been a constant struggle for the young blond, but he had managed to keep his grades above average in all categories besides Technology. In that category he had managed to maintain a score just below the threshold for an above average score; maintaining his now annual deal with Hokage-jiji.

The latest scroll was the first offensive elemental jutsu he would be allowed to learn for his efforts. The young teen couldn't wait for the final exams to end so he could head out to the training grounds and get to work on learning his first offensive jutsu.

Last year, after fulfilling his end of the deal, the Hokage had given him a chakra affinity test and the corresponding nature manipulation exercises to increase his control over his affinities. While the Hokage forbade him for learning any offensive jutsu until he reached the final years of the Academy, he did allow him to learn Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) as a means to defend himself against Sasuke's Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball).

While Naruto didn't think it was fair that he couldn't learn any offensive jutsu, he kept his complaints to himself. The last thing he wanted to do was make the Hokage think he was ungrateful for his efforts and since he had always had problems with chakra control, he understood mastering his nature manipulation was important to helping him learn how to use offensive jutsu properly. Mastering the control exercises would only allow him to learn the jutsu easier as well so he threw himself into completing the exercises with vigor to prove that he was worthy of the Hokage's attention.

Naruto couldn't contain his excitement when he learned that his primary affinity was Suiton with a minor affinity to Fūton. Elements that were contrary to what the majority of Konoha were aligned with. While using Fūton would be a risk against a Katon user like Sasuke, at least he had a strong alignment with water which would counteract any fire jutsu the Uchiha would use against him.

Under the Hokage's guidance, he had been working hard on improving his chakra control for the past five years. After managing to perform the Bunshin successfully and placing in the top five after last year's final exams. Naruto knew that it was his efforts in mastering the nature manipulation exercises that finally allowed him to conquer the ever troublesome (yet absolutely useless in his opinion) Bunshin technique. Naruto only hoped that by completing the regular Bunshin, the Hokage could be convinced to let him learn the Mizu Bunshin he had learned about when the class began studying famous missing ninja from Kiri.

For the first few months, his lessons consisted entirely of converting his chakra into elemental chakra safely. It had been difficult, to say the least, but he had managed to succeed in mastering his first advanced chakra control exercise. Last week, Hokage-jiji gave him an impromptu test of his mastery of the tree climbing, water walking, and Suiton level 1 exercises. When he passed the tests with flying colors, he was rewarded with the water wall technique and permission to start training it over the summer break. If he succeeded in successfully passing all the team exercises for the final two years and still maintained a position within the top five of his class, the Hokage promised a Suiton and a Fūton jutsu for him to learn before the final exams. So far, he was on track to keep that promise, despite all the challenges he faced this year.

In the past, they would have graduated as genin this year and be assigned to a Jōnin sensei to start learning teamwork and performing menial tasks disguised as missions. Not only would they gain experience with dealing with clients and different forms of missions in the safety of the village, but they would be able to bond with their team through the hazing ritual that was known as D-ranks.

Last year, the Hokage had changed the requirements for graduation. Two additional years were added to the curriculum in order to help the students start developing their specialties, provide more hands-on training for specific mission types, and to test team dynamics in a controlled environment. After the first four years in the Academy, the Genin test was administered, as usual, and all students who received a passing grade would be divided into teams based on their overall score and expected combat roles. The teams were readjusted on a quarterly basis so that the instructors could measure adaptability and gauge which team formations were more suitable in real world situations. The students would still perform D-ranked missions as if they were a normal genin team, and those missions would be overseen by Jōnin overseers who were interested in accepting a Genin team in the future. This helped both train the Genin and the Jōnin on functioning as a team and exposed them both to the realities of being a Genin level squad.

In addition to the team based training, however, the students would also have instructors who specialized in teaching different subjects rotating through each team for the next two years. This would not only help the instructors identify which student had an aptitude for a specific specialization, but it allowed them to gain advanced training for their chosen specialization while exposing them to more detailed aspects of the different specializations at the same time.

In the past, a Jōnin sensei who specialized in Genjutsu could be assigned a team that was not suited for their specialization. A student with strong Ninjutsu talent but no Genjutsu talent assigned to that team would be forced to seek out other sources of training or fall back on their clan for instruction. This had prevented many talented Jōnin from meeting the requirements to take on a Genin team because they were too heavily specialized into a certain field to advance their genin team without the assistance of another shinobi. This, in turn, reduced the number of passing combat focused teams that became active after the Academy.

With this new setup, not only could they observe the group dynamics in a controlled setting, the teachers could observe and guide the students down the path that best suited their natural talent and skills. The instructors would develop the foundation for their specialties and establish a training plan that the students could follow and modify as they grew and advanced through the ranks. This freed up the Jōnin sensei to focus more on developing their combat experience and advanced tactics during real world scenarios instead of handling basic skill building and training. The genin teams that managed to pass would also be far more skilled than ordinary genin and more capable of dealing with the realities of being a ninja.

Especially after they had completed the first kill test that Hiruzen had set up for them, but this fact was being kept secret from the students. What better way to eliminate the students who weren't serious about being ninja then to force them into a scenario where they had to kill in order to pass. Not only was it safer for the prospective genin to deal with their first kill in a controlled environment, but there would also be group and individual counseling provided afterward; to help the students deal with the aftermath and decide if they still want to continue on the path of a ninja. Not that they would actually be killing anyone but with a high-level genjutsu and a Mizu Bunshin for extra effect, it would seem real enough to the inexperienced genin.

It hadn't been easy adjusting to the new format that the Hokage had set up in the Academy for the extra two years of instruction. In addition to more advanced technology classes, each quarter he was forced to readjust to a team that, usually, wanted nothing to do with him in the first place. Not only did most of his teammates look down on him, but sometimes they attempted to sabotage him or refused to work with him completely. Naruto was often forced to carry the majority of the workload while covering for his classmates in order to maintain the grades he needed to garner the rewards from the Hokage.

Next, there was dealing with the clients that seemed to enjoy making things difficult for him. Not only did this often make his team hold a grudge against him because they were required to deal with more work because of his presence, but they also had to deal with unreasonable complaints or outright false accusations of theft, damage, or failure to complete their tasks. If it wasn't for the fact that the Hokage was aware of the bias against Naruto, the blond was certain he would have received a failing grade completely. While it was nice being able to earn an income from attending classes, the combination of resentful teammates and ungrateful clients had made it a struggle for the sunny blond to remain optimistic about his situation.

At least a few of the teams he had been assigned to this past year had managed to acknowledge his ability and began actively working with him in order to improve their chances at passing with a higher grade. While they weren't interested in being friends with the fully organic shinobi, they were at least cordial with him instead of downright nasty. Sometimes they even treated him with sympathy once they experienced the blatantly biased treatment that was heaped upon him. It also helped that Naruto was more than willing to pick up all of the extra work that was dumped on them unfairly because of his presence.

This last quarter, however, things had taken a severe turn for the worse. Not only was he paired with Sasuke, but Sakura as well. A group that not only challenged him physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Naruto could only hope that things would get better for him next year since he couldn't possibly be grouped with anyone who hated him more that Sasuke.

To Naruto, it had been a miracle that he had managed to maintain his spot in the top five of his class, despite Sasuke's best efforts.

Naruto's eyes drifted over to the youngest Uchiha of the main family. Sasuke had his dive headset on, like the majority of the class, and was dutifully listening in on the video even if Naruto could tell by his body language that he was utterly bored. The raven haired teen's arrogance had only seemed to grow as the years passed. If Naruto managed to beat him in a spar or any other subject, Sasuke took it upon himself to try and put him down by bringing up his scores in other subjects or trying his hardest to "make him learn his place". This attitude only grew worse once they were teamed together for the last quarter as Naruto was forced not only to deal with the challenges presented to the team but he would also have to compete with the Uchiha instead of working together to overcome the challenge. It didn't help that he had a group of fan girls constantly fanning the flames of the Uchiha's ego, the primary one being Sakura who supported Sasuke completely, regardless if he was in the wrong. Naruto had tried being cordial or even befriending Sasuke on numerous occasions only to be brushed off as "beneath him" or Sasuke "kindly" reminding Naruto of his clanless orphan status.

Like it was hard to forget something like that when you had been alone all of your life and had nothing to remind you of where you came from.

It would have been one thing to be simply brushed off and ignored like the rest of the village, but the fact that Sasuke had gone out of his way to be _nasty_ towards him caused Naruto to start resenting the Uchiha. Not only was he a hypocrite of the highest order, but he was an all around stuck up jerk and asshole to pretty much everyone. Even all the fan girls who sung his praises and threw themselves at him on a daily basis were treated like dirt. Not only that but Sasuke had seemingly put a target on Naruto's back since everyone who tried to suck up to Sasuke would try to put the blond down at every opportunity; as if it would gain the Uchiha's favor in some way. Even some of his former teammates from the previous quarters would either outright ignore him or even join in with the rest of the group because they wanted to fit in.

If they weren't teasing him for a lack of cybernetics then they were insulting him for being an orphan and believing that he had a chance to beat Sasuke at anything. Naruto preferred it when the groupies had simply avoided him in the past, but he refused to back down or fold under the pressure the others were placing on him. Especially not for some stuck up hypocrite's foolish pride.

Naruto's eyes drifted the other member of his current team and the object of his first crush.

Sakura Haruno.

Ever since he had first laid eyes on the pink haired beauty, Naruto had been drawn to her. She was strong, intelligent, caring and the number one Sasuke fan girl which filled Naruto with jealousy and envy for the stuck up raven. Even when Sasuke ignored her or flat out was rude to her, Sakura still went out of her way to make him bento lunches and sweets. She was always loyally cheering the Uchiha on showing that she was dedicated and loyal.

Naruto longed for her beautiful minty green eyes to look upon him instead.

The only real problems he had with Sakura was her love for all things cybernetic and her harsh treatment of him whenever someone else was around. Naruto didn't know why Sakura felt so much pressure to be accepted by the others in class. The pinkette was talented, scored as the top kunoichi consistently, and had major influence amongst the rest of the fangirls. Her determination to win Sasuke's heart was much stronger than the rest of the girls, much to Naruto's chagrin.

Back during the first few years of the Academy, Sakura had been the only girl that had deigned to speak with him and she had been _kind_ to him as well. She was the first person to openly debate his beliefs about cyberization without putting him down for not having any implants or making herself sound like an idiot or hypocrite. Before she fell deep into her crush with Sasuke, Sakura had met with him at the park on occasion, trying to change his opinion about people who chose to get prosthetic bodies and full cyberbrains. Naruto never told her how he was incapable of getting implants because he feared that she would no longer speak to him about the subject if she learned the truth. Since no other girl his own age had ever spoken to him for this long, the last thing he wanted to do was drive her off.

Even though he couldn't agree with her beliefs, he admired her passion for the subject. At first, Naruto thought his crush might have been a result of her being the only girl to pay him any attention, but as he admired her from afar he realized that it was her fiery passion and strong personality that attracted him. Not only that, but she wasn't nearly as shallow as the other girls. Sure she took care of her appearance to some extent; that wasn't unusual for a girl. When compared to girls like Ino Yamanaka and the vast majority of the civilian girls, you could tell that Sakura didn't put nearly as much effort into her looks.

Once she began chasing Sasuke, however, she would treat him with disdain in front of the rest of the class and stopped meeting with him outside of the Academy entirely. While she never said anything overtly harsh towards him, it still hurt him to hear her cheer on Sasuke instead of him.

To hear her put him down and compare him to that arrogant jerk.

To see her beautiful face get marred with a frown or tears whenever Sasuke was particularly rude to her in front of everyone.

Sometimes he wanted to call her out about all the times they had spent with each other in the park or stand up to Sasuke on her behalf, but he kept silent. Not only did he believe that Sakura didn't really _need_ him to stand up for her; she would also be embarrassed and humiliated in front of everyone if they learned she had hung out with the naturalist loser. The last thing Naruto wanted was for her to hate him so he kept her secret if only to hope that someday she would see him in the same way that she saw Sasuke.

Naruto also knew that Sakura's parents were saving up to help her get several cybernetic enhancements after graduation and he often heard her debating with Ino about getting a fully prosthetic body instead of simply enhancing her arms and legs to increase her strength or speed.

Naruto knew he would mourn the day she threw away her beautiful body for the synthetic alternative.

Naruto let out a sigh and scanned the rest of his class in an introspective manner. He looked over the group of students that he might be paired with for the final year and had hope that things would get better for him.

The only kids he tended to get along with were Shikamaru, his friend Chōji Akimichi, and Kiba Inuzuka. While he couldn't consider them _friends_ by any means, since they didn't spend any of their free time with him, they weren't total jerks to him in class and would hang out with him during lunch and recess. There were a few times they would all skip out on class when the opportunity arose. He also hadn't been grouped with any of them this past year, which was the primary source of his hope.

Chōji and Kiba were a part of the small group of kids that had no cybernetic augments besides the minor implant needed to go online. Chōji's family jutsu were incompatible with cybernetics entirely and while there were prosthetics that could match the fabled strength of the Akimichi, their Baika no Jutsu (Expansion Technique) couldn't be accurately replicated. The amount of power behind said jutsu was also far beyond anything a cybernetic body could handle, so the Akimichi clan was primarily unaugmented. Naruto had seen a demonstration by Chōji's father Chōza during Parent's day. It had been impressive to watch the man grow taller than a building and crush an armed suit with his giant hands.

Chōji was primarily Shikamaru's friend and mainly stuck to his side whenever they had days off or were given free time during school hours. Most of the time the tubby teen could be seen munching on some type of snack food while sitting next to the snoozing Nara. Outside of class, it was common to find the duo sprawled out on their backs in the park as they watched the clouds drift by.

The soft-spoken Akimichi was never rude or dismissive to Naruto since the start of the Academy, and he was the only other kid who could truly understand Naruto's love for ramen. Chōji could go on forever about how much he loved Yakiniku-Q and properly grilled pork belly in particular so he didn't look down on Naruto's ramen sermons.

As for Kiba, he was the heir to the Inuzuka clan. A clan whose focus had been on creating tight-knit bonds with their ninken. Adopting the feral aspects of their canine companions was more important to the clan then gaining strength through other means, but they weren't opposed to augmenting their dogs with cybernetics to extend their lifespans and lower the rate of injuries they sustained. A few of the clan members had adopted prosthetic body parts but for some strange reason, the Inuzuka clan jutsu were heavily taxing on cybernetic parts. Even the most advanced cyberbrains were damaged by the way the Inuzuka's brain compositions seemed to fundamentally change when they used their transformation jutsu, so the Inuzuka's restricted themselves to minor implants needed to connect to LATTICE and TRELLIS for missions, or opted out entirely and used the handheld devices like Naruto.

Kiba was probably the closest thing to a friend that Naruto had. The brash Inuzuka was more than willing to compete with Naruto but he never put the blond down in a serious manner. Besides the usual taunts and teasing that went on between most adolescent boys that were close, Kiba was generally kind to Naruto.

Kiba wasn't entirely opposed to hanging out with Naruto during his free time but training Akamaru, caring for the Inuzuka kennels and learning the clan techniques took up most of his time after school and during the weekends. Naruto couldn't hold it against the feral boy since his own free time had begun to dwindle because of training. Plus, he wouldn't begrudge the brunette for spending time with his family and clan since the blond would have done the very same thing.

Naruto's eyes landed on Ino Yamanaka. The mind reader clan's heiress and second place Sasuke fangirl. While Ino was also a confident and proud kunoichi in training; she was also very shallow, pushy, and dismissive to everyone that wasn't a part of her inner circle.

While Ino had also never been nasty towards him, that didn't stop her from mocking his eccentric taste in clothing, lack of cybernetics, or his rivalry with Sasuke. Still, Naruto was naturally inclined to dislike her because of the way she constantly belittled or insulted Sakura. He had been happy with the fact that they hadn't been paired together up to this point since it would be difficult for him not to snap at her for the snobby attitude she tended to convey.

If he did get assigned to work with her, Naruto was certain that Ino was intelligent enough not to sabotage herself by making things difficult for him.

Sitting directly behind Ino was Shino, the stoic and distant heir of the Aburame clan. The Aburame were famous for their use of insects as the primary driver for their jutsu. Due to this symbiosis, the Aburame didn't care about having natural or prosthetic bodies. Their primary goal was to ensure the safety of the hives that lived within their bodies and integrate new forms of insects into their jutsu to make them more effective. As a result, many of the Aburame had switched out to fully cybernetic bodies with augments focusing primarily on increasing their chakra reserves. They didn't really care about diving through cyberspace or linking to the network, but the prosthetic bodies did allow them to have stronger, sturdier bodies that were more resistant to damage. Since the Aburame had been known to lack great physical strength in exchange for housing the hives inside of their bodies, it was only seen as a bonus to eliminate that weakness while also providing a more nurturing environment for the insects themselves.

Naruto hadn't really spent any time with Shino, due to his standoffish nature, but Naruto suspected that he wouldn't have any problems with the Aburame heir. It might be awkward at first but since there was no animosity between the two, Naruto was certain they could manage to work together in order to pass their exams and graduate with the best score possible.

Sitting next to Shino was the shy Hyūga heiress, Hinata. Things would be _interesting_ if he ended up on her team. The kind and soft spoken girl wasn't terrible when it came to her shinobi skills, but Naruto avoided her for multiple reasons. The primary one being the fact that he had been threatened by the Hyūga clan to stay away from her after his attempt to befriend her as a young child.

Naruto had approached her in the park one day as she was making a flower crown and tried to hold a conversation. Instead of responding to his introduction with her own, however, she stuttered for a few seconds before running towards a Hyūga woman who was sitting nearby. As soon as the rest of the Hyūga saw him standing there, they immediately chased him off while throwing the usual threats and curses he got from the meanest villagers. After that, Naruto made an effort to stay away from her in order to avoid drawing the ire of the guards that were always accompanying her.

Once he started attending the Academy, Hinata had spoken to him kindly a few times but she was very shy and lacked confidence in herself. Naruto could tell that Hinata could easily compete with Ino and Sakura if she tried harder, but she was far too timid to assert herself and Naruto found himself getting annoyed with her self-doubt. Hinata was a prime example of someone being fully capable despite her lack of cybernetics but instead of proudly displaying her skill and strength, she chose to act meekly and let people walk all over her. He didn't know what her situation was at home but he highly doubted it was anywhere in the same league of how the village treated him. Most of the villagers treated the Hyūga like royalty so it wasn't like she was receiving bad treatment from _everybody_.

Naruto knew from first-hand experience that simply allowing people to walk all over you or spit on you _never_ made things better. Allowing those people to see your tears or know that they have broken your spirit only seemed to fan the flames of their hatred and increase the amount of abuse they heaped on you. Only when he began standing up to them defiantly or retaliating against them with pranks did people start to leave him alone. True, it didn't stop them from hating him but they also didn't go out of their way to make him miserable anymore. The worst that he would get now were cold glares and the occasional bits of trash thrown his way if he walked down the wrong street. He had long since memorized all the stores that treated him fairly so he didn't bother investigating any others unless they were newly opened.

If he did end up on her team, Naruto was certain things would only get more difficult for him. Hinata was talented but if she couldn't believe in herself she would only continue to fail and the only way she could truly learn that lesson was to discover that truth on her own. It wouldn't be fair for the other members of the team to be forced into carrying her through difficult situations when she faltered. Naruto wouldn't be surprised if her father used his power on the council to force Naruto off of her team if they were assigned to work together.

Shikamaru, Chōji, and Kiba would all be ideal pairings in terms of cooperation. While he might have to carry most of the physical work with Shikamaru on his team, he had no problem with that. Shikamaru was born to be the brains of any team he was assigned to and Naruto was strong enough to handle most of the dirty work. Only Chōji was physically stronger than him overall, and Kiba was on par with him in terms of physical strength and knowledge so it was unlikely that he would be paired with the Akimichi or the Inuzuka.

Chances were he would get nothing but civilian teammates for the rest of the year and would have to watch his back constantly for sabotage efforts or deal with their nastiness in exchange for gaining some form of cooperation on their part.

It couldn't be worse than being grouped with Sasuke and Sakura again.

Naruto saw Iruka-sensei lift up his dive headset and quickly tucked the scroll away into his vibrant orange and blue jacket. Just one more boring lecture to go and the final exam would begin. While Iruka was the only teacher who had gained Naruto's respect during his time at the Academy, the scarred chūnin was _terrible at_ lectures. If he was teaching them something practical or demonstrating techniques for bukijutsu, taijutsu, or even ninjutsu, however, it was easy to follow along and listen to the man's instructions. Whenever Iruka began lecturing on history, math, or language, Naruto felt like all the energy was being sapped out of his body slowly. Not even tuning out the droll cadence set by the kindhearted sensei could spare you from the effect and it wasn't abnormal to see all but the most dutiful students start slouching in their seats after the first 10 minutes.

Luckily for the whiskered teen, Iruka finished his speech after 4 very long minutes and began laying the ground rules for the final exam while Mizuki (Iruka's assistant) began handing out the written tests.

"All external connections have been disabled for the remainder of the day. You have 1 hour to finish the written exam after which a short recess will be allowed before the start of the physical exams." Iruka stated.

After Mizuki had finished handing out the exam papers and made his way back to the front of the class, Iruka set the timer and ordered the exam to begin.

By the time Naruto finished his exam and double checked his answers, 45 minutes had elapsed. None of the questions had been too difficult for him to puzzle out but there was a handful that required him to check his work a few times. In the end, Naruto still felt positive about his answers and raised his hand in order to have his answer sheet collected.

After the 15 remaining minutes had passed and all the answer sheets collected, the class was released on a 30-minute break while the physical fitness and bukijutsu testing grounds were prepared. Most of the class gathered outside of the training ground that held the obstacle course, milling about in small groups and talking about the test or other miscellaneous topics while waiting for the next stage. A moderate sized group of students had taken the opportunity to change into more functional clothing for the physical test, which wasn't unexpected. Along with most of the girls, there were several boys who had worn more form fitting clothing or simply didn't want their casual clothing to get dirty or torn from the course.

Once the break was over Iruka called the students together and explained the details of the obstacle course and any rules. Once all the rules and restrictions were fully explained and questions were answered, the students were lined up in alphabetical order and called on the run the course. The students were allowed to run the course three times in total if they weren't satisfied with their previous time, with the fastest time being taken for their final grade.

After all the students finished their runs through the course, Naruto was glad to see that he had managed to top Sasuke's score by a few seconds without including the cybernetic penalty. Naruto didn't bother keeping the smirk off his face when the times were posted without penalties first only to watch as the Uchiha's time increased even further once the penalty was included. It was great to see the Uchiha and his fan club seething at the fact that he had beat them all, and knowing that he had could have run the course even faster if chakra had been allowed only made his victory sweeter.

Sasuke managed to claim his revenge during the bukijutsu exam, topping Naruto's score of 74 with a perfect score of 85. Naruto merely huffed in contempt as Sasuke smirked triumphantly and his fan club cheered. It wasn't like his score was terrible, but a few other students had also managed to earn higher scores which only fueled the group of cheering fangirls into taunting Naruto each time someone managed to best his score.

By the time the taijutsu tests began, Sasuke and Naruto were both glaring at each other, envisioning their overwhelming victories in front of the entire class while their humbled rival wept behind them. Usually, when these two were fired up to this degree, Iruka avoided pairing them up in a spar since the chances of them going overboard were highly likely. Since this was the final exam of the year, however, Iruka couldn't alter the sparring brackets that had been set up earlier. Naruto and Sasuke's overall taijutsu scores throughout the year were too close for them to be matched up against anyone else.

"Okay, you two." Iruka got their attention off each other for the moment. "Remember this is a _spar_ , not a fight. If you do not display the proper control I _will_ fail you both, and not just for taijutsu but the whole final exam as well. Understand?" Iruka said sternly as he switched his gaze between the two.

"Yes, Sensei." The boys responded in unison before returning to their glaring match.

Iruka merely sighed before he started reviewing the rules again for safety's sake.

"Remember, no chakra enhancement, no jutsu, and no weapons are allowed. Cybernetic output must be no higher than 45% in all limbs. We will be grading both on offensive and defensive techniques and not who the winner is, so keep that in mind." Iruka concluded before stepping outside of the roped off sparring ring. "The fight will last for two minutes or until one of you is pinned, trapped in a lock, or knocked out of the ring three times."

Iruka looked over as Sasuke and asked. "Are you ready?"

Sasuke just gave him a brief nod without taking his focus off of Naruto.

"Naruto, are you ready?" Iruka asked.

"I'm ready, sensei," Naruto replied. This time, he would prove to that arrogant bastard that he was not someone to be trifled with. This time, he would gain the bastard's respect with his fists if necessary. Even if he had to earn the villager's acceptance one fight at a time, then Sasuke would simply be the first in a very long list.

The time for the childish and petty squabbles was over; it was time to take things seriously.

Iruka brought his hand down and called a start to the fight.

Both teens took off at each other at top speed, leaving a small cloud of dust behind them as they launched their initial charges. The two met in the middle in a flurry of kicks and punches while the rest of the class began cheering or jeering the pair on. Even though most of the class tended to avoid or put down the whiskered blond, there were still a dozen kids who would prefer to see Sasuke put in his place simply due to his arrogant nature.

Naruto quickly parried Sasuke's initial jab, cross combination before ducking low to avoid the follow-up hook and lashing out with a sweep to knock the Uchiha off of his feet.

Sasuke quickly hopped over the sweeping leg before lashing out with a quick snap kick to throw off Naruto's momentum and create an opening for a counter attack. Naruto was prepared for this attack and threw Sasuke off balance by springing up to his feet in a pivot to redirect the kick before lunging forward to bury his shoulder into the raven's gut to try and launch him back out of the ring. Being caught in the air, Sasuke had little recourse but to snap his knees up against his chest in an effort to lower his center of gravity and regain his footing before the blond successfully sent him out of the ring.

As soon as his foot touched the ground, Sasuke gripped Naruto's shoulders and countered his charge by throwing a knee to Naruto's gut to set him up for a rolling throw. Naruto took the attack before wrapping his arm around Sasuke's leg to trap it against his body before stepping forward to keep the Uchiha off balance and set him up for a takedown.

Knowing that he was about to be pinned by the whiskered blond, Sasuke scowled before attempting to wrap his arm around Naruto's neck to trap him in a guillotine choke before his back hit the ground. If he could get the headlock off successfully, then he would be awarded a fall at the same time. Naruto had his chin tucked to his chest and kept his head pressed against Sasuke's chest to stop the Uchiha from gaining the choke, however, and Naruto gained the first takedown when Sasuke's back hit the ground.

Iruka called out the first fall before ordering the two to break apart. Sasuke scowled as he pushed Naruto off of him before shooting the blond a glare, but instead of seeing a taunting smirk or a matching glare, he was surprised to see an intense and serious expression on his opponent's face.

Sasuke resettled his starting stance and observed the Uzumaki closely while waiting for Iruka to start the match once more. Something about seeing the unusually focused expression on his opponent's face started to shift his opinion of the blond.

As an Uchiha and the son of the Clan head, Fugaku, the pressure for him to succeed and surpass all others in every way was intense. Like Itachi, his older brother, Fugaku expected Sasuke to dominate all subjects in the class by a healthy margin and show the power of the Uchiha clan. Sasuke worked hard and trained hard to earn the top marks in his class, but it never seemed to be good enough for his father. Constantly being compared to Itachi had worn down on Sasuke's confidence but he masked his insecurities behind the haughty decorum common for most members of the Uchiha clan. Showing any weakness in front of his father only made his situation worse.

It was bad enough that he had been born with a strange muscle disorder that caused him to experience paralysis at seemingly random times. When Sasuke had learned that he would require prosthesis in order to be able to function as a shinobi, he had been frightened on many levels. Not only had he constantly heard his father put down prosthesis and cybernetics in any form, but he had also heard the numerous horror stories from the Naturalists about failed implant procedures causing you to die a slow and painful death.

Knowing that they would have to cut off his body parts and operate on his brain had been scary concepts for the 5-year-old child, but instead of comfort and reassurance from the one man he looked up to most in his life, he received nothing but a cold shoulder and a sense of disdain. His mother and brother had done their best to reassure and comfort him during this time, but Sasuke had overheard his father and other members of the clan speaking about him as if he were a disgrace to the clan name. Ever since that day, Sasuke pushed himself beyond his limits to master his control over his prosthetic body parts and exceed all expectations on him to try and wash away the shame he had brought on his family for requiring cybernetics.

When a clanless, ostracized orphan with no cybernetic implants began to show him up in class, it was painful for Sasuke. To face his father with his report card and see that look of disapproval was like a dagger to his heart. It also didn't help that his father knew exactly who was keeping up with him and expressed his disappointment that an elite Uchiha was being shown up by commoner trash.

Sasuke was bitter and jealous that he couldn't earn his father's approval with his partially cybernetic body while Naruto, who was completely natural, was able to keep up with him. Knowing that Naruto wasn't getting any advanced training from a clan was another sore point for the young Uchiha. Even Itachi spent some time helping him with his bukijutsu and taijutsu on occasion, and even though Itachi and his mother both silently encouraged him and praised him, it was never enough. Sasuke longed to gain his father's acceptance, no matter how impossible it seemed.

Silently, Sasuke admired Naruto for his strength and perseverance. It was obvious to see that practically everyone in the village scorned him or ignored him in some manner, yet, the unflappable blond never faltered in his beliefs, never questioned himself or his own worth. Ever since he had first laid eyes on the blond, Sasuke knew that he would be the only one to present him with a real challenge. What Sasuke wanted more than anything was to be respected by everyone, but Naruto's constant underhanded comments against those with prosthetic bodies constantly rubbed him the wrong way. Unlike some of the other kids, he didn't really have a choice.

Sure, he could have lived a life without cybernetic enhancements but he would have been required to take numerous supplements and avoid all strenuous exercise. That would have prevented him from becoming a shinobi, which seemed to be far more shameful to his father. Sasuke knew that was the only reason his father allowed his partial body replacement in the first place. It would have been scandalous for the Clan head to have a son that was incapable of being a shinobi or joining the Konoha Military Police.

If Itachi hadn't proven himself to be the ultimate prodigy, the clan would have questioned Fugaku's position as the Clan head. If the leader was incapable of providing powerful heirs, it was viewed as a weakness that could bring dishonor to the clan. Even with Itachi's unquestionable strength, when word had spread about Sasuke's condition there were whispers amongst the elders and council about Fugaku's viability as the leader of the clan.

Sasuke had seen the ugly side of his clan during those years as they verbally attacked the capabilities of his father and questioned the fertility of his mother. He had heard his older brother compare them with vultures on more than one occasion during the inquisition. An inquisition that was only settled when his father, and mother, dominated all their detractors in the proving grounds. His father had even been forced to kill a few, more ambitious, Uchiha who wanted to usurp his position.

That was the day his father taught him his first lesson and started his training.

"Remember this day, Sasuke. Remember that revealing any weakness will only encourage others to take advantage of you and end your life if they can. The only way to ensure your safety is to put them down with overwhelming force. Only through domination can you be certain to drive fear into their hearts and put them in their proper places, crushed beneath your heels." Fugaku had told him in a cold tone.

It had taken Sasuke a few years to realize the truth behind those words. To know that his parents had come under scrutiny and had been forced to fight for their very lives because he was born weak was a painful realization. Even though his father was cold and unyielding to him since his diagnosis, Sasuke believed his father still loved him in his own way. It was the reason why he worked so hard to gain his acceptance and approval, and why it hurt so much when he continually fell short.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and tensed his body in preparation. He had to beat Naruto to gain the respect he deserved. For his father, for his mother, and for his brother, he would defeat Naruto and prove to his clan that he wasn't a failure or mistake. To prove that he had earned his right to exist as an Uchiha and wipe the stain of his weakness from his family's name.

Sasuke barely heard Iruka's voice as he called the match to start once more. He was far too focused on his opponent to hear anything but the beat of his own heart and the rustle of cloth as he dashed forward towards the blond.

Lashing out with a jab, Sasuke feigned the same combination attack he had opened up with the first time, but switched the follow-up cross with a knee instead, forcing Naruto to lower his guard to protect his torso. Once Naruto's arms were lowered, Sasuke landed a quick uppercut to the Uzumaki's jaw, rocking his head back for a follow-up hook that sent Naruto stumbling to the side.

Sasuke, looking to take advantage of Naruto's dazed state, quickly attacked with a roundhouse kick to Naruto's temple. Naruto was quick to recover, however, and managed to trap his leg again, moving to sweep Sasuke's other leg and pin him again. Sasuke was prepared for the move this time. Before Naruto could sweep his leg out from underneath him, Sasuke used his trapped leg to help propel himself into a back handspring, lashing out with his free leg as his body arched to kick Naruto in the chin and free his trapped leg. Pushing off of his arms, he propelled himself back onto his feet and landed in a stance before dashing forward and attempting to land a powerful thrust kick to push Naruto out of the ring.

Naruto barely put his guard up in time to block the powerful kick but was sent flying back towards the edge of the ring. Sasuke wasted no time in chasing after his target and faked another thrust kick to lure Naruto into his trap. When the blond moved to pivot and trap his leg again, the Uchiha sprung his trap. Instead of leaning back and thrusting his leg forward, Sasuke rotated his hip and pivoted on the ball of his foot to land a hook kick to the back of the blond's head. He immediately followed up the attack with a downward left cross to Naruto's jaw, sending him down and out of the ring to gain his first fall.

Sasuke backed off when he heard Iruka call a point in his favor. As he shuffled back to his start position he watched the Uzumaki get back to his feet and rub his jaw. Expecting to see the blond's usual scowl on his face, Sasuke's lips began to curl up into a smirk but paused when he saw nothing but a serious and determined expression on his opponent's face. An expression he was very familiar with as he saw it in the mirror every morning and before bed every night.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he studied Naruto's face again. Every time they had faced each other in the past, the blond had never really shown him the proper respect shown between serious fighters. If Naruto truly respected him as a challenge, he wouldn't smirk or sneer at him as if he weren't a worthy opponent. A true rival took his counterpart seriously and would go all out against them because they acknowledged the other as an equal.

As an Uchiha, he couldn't afford to associate with anyone considered beneath the clan in status. For that reason, the raven haired teen had spurned all overtures of friendship from the person in front of him. Seeing that same fire of determination made Sasuke rethink his view of the blond.

Like him, Naruto was trying to prove his right to exist and gain the approval of others.

Like him, Naruto was constantly driving himself to improve and grow stronger.

Unlike the rest of these fools in his class, Naruto was the only one as serious as he was to become a true shinobi and prove his worth, regardless of his lack of family.

The time he had spent challenging the blond this last quarter had done much to raise his opinion of the purely organic shinobi, but Sasuke could tell that Naruto didn't truly respect him for his skill. The blond only saw him as a weakling that required prosthesis in order to be a shinobi. It was the main reason Sasuke constantly treated him with contempt. Just because he was fortunate enough to have a body healthy enough to not require prosthesis didn't give him the right to put down people who weren't blessed with being born healthy. It also hurt Sasuke's pride whenever Naruto tried to put down his accomplishments as nothing more than a result of his prosthesis.

It wasn't easy to adjust and control a prosthetic body when making delicate or intricate movements. Performing katas, hand seals, or even simple tasks such as folding paper or organizing items inside of a small box were trying tasks that required practice.

To have someone who didn't have to go through the difficulty of adjusting to a prosthetic body write off his struggles as nothing was insulting and degrading. For that reason, Sasuke lashed out at Naruto viciously and with all his frustration and hatred. All he wanted was to be treated with the respect he deserved and every time the blond waived off his efforts as nothing more than a result of his prosthesis it was like a physical slap in the face.

The fact that Sasuke secretly respected Naruto as a rival only made it worse for his pride everytime Naruto made one of those comments. So, Sasuke went out of his way to try and defeat the organic shinobi and force him to acknowledge him as a rival worthy of respect.

Itachi had once told him that in order to become a true shinobi, one had to endure through hardships and survive. In order to surpass your own limits, however, one had to find someone who had struggled and endured as much as they had. Only then could you rely on that person to help you overcome insurmountable odds and constantly drive you into breaking through your own boundaries.

For Itachi, he had listed his often vicious rivalry with Shisui in their youth for making him the prodigy that he was today. Sasuke had never bothered to seek someone out like that because his father had driven home the point that he could only rely on himself for true strength.

His father had constantly warned him that he needed to stand on his own to prove his strength and gain acceptance. Relying on anyone else to gain strength or succeed was admitting to everyone that you were inherently weak. Even pairing up with other Uchiha in any other circumstance beyond training was frowned upon for an Uchiha couldn't shine if there was another nearby to cast a shadow over them.

Sasuke, being eager to please his father, had followed his father's words diligently for most of his life. Even after falling short of his father's expectations for the first four years of the Academy, Sasuke clung to the tidbits of wisdom his father deigned to offer him and continued to push himself. All in an effort to change that disappointed frown into a look of pride and acceptance.

It was only in the past few years that Sasuke began to put more faith in Itachi's words. The only areas he surpassed Naruto by a large margin were Technology and that was only because the whiskered teen put less effort into that subject than he did with History or Math; areas that Sasuke had previously dominated in the past.

When it came to physical exams, ninjutsu, or taijutsu, Naruto was able to compete with him and even beat him often. Most of the teachers considered them fairly even with the top spot changing between them each semester. All throughout his years at the Academy, he had diligently followed his father's lessons and put all of his efforts into training and studying, but he still couldn't gain a lead against the blond when it came to subjects that he believed truly mattered.

None of that mattered if he couldn't earn the blond's respect, so he would try to drive his point home now, in this final fight between them so he could gain the recognition he deserved. Maybe then they could come to an understanding and help each other accomplish their goals. Sasuke had tried standing on his own, maybe it was time for him to take Itachi's advice and reach out to someone else, on his own terms.

Naruto rubbed his jaw as he walked back into the ring and made his way back to the starting spot. Sasuke had hit him hard enough that he had a few sparks in his vision, but it wasn't enough to take him out of the fight. As he prepared to enter his sparring stance, he noticed the oddly intense expression on the Uchiha's face. While he had been tuning out the cheers and taunts of the students around them, Naruto was expecting that usual arrogant smirk to be firmly in place on the raven's face. Instead, he saw nothing but determination and focus.

Naruto had never seen anything but condescension or arrogance on the Uchiha's face whenever they fought with each other and had responded in turn with his own disgust and contempt. Now, however, it seemed that Sasuke was finally recognizing him as an equal.

Iruka called for the match to start once more and this time, Naruto got the jump on Sasuke as he charged in with a telegraphed right cross, hoping to create an opening in Sasuke's guard. When Sasuke side stepped the attack and prepared to throw a left hook to Naruto's ribs, he was unprepared for the sudden elbow that caught him across the temple, blurring his vision temporarily.

Naruto jumped on the opening, throwing an overhead left cross to strike the dazed Uchiha across the jaw to try and knock him out. The punch connected, sending Sasuke stumbling back, but he was quicker on the recovery than Naruto expected and the follow up right hook was neatly evaded by Sasuke when he ducked and pivoted with the momentum of the staggering punch, lashing out with a desperate mule kick that landed right in Naruto's solar plexus.

The force of the kick sent Naruto back a few paces and winded him slightly, but the whiskered teen ignored the pain and dashed back in, throwing a series of punches that were hastily deflected by Sasuke as he attempted to get his feet back under him. When Naruto over extended himself on a left hook, Sasuke took the opportunity to lash out with another thrust kick to his midsection, pushing the blond back into range for a spinning hook kick which was aimed for Naruto's jaw. Sasuke quickly followed up with a front snap kick to try and keep his opponent at a distance.

Naruto managed to duck the spinning hook kick aimed for his head before he rolled to the side to avoid the snap kick. Leaping back up to his feet quickly, Naruto set his stance once more and the two teens stared each other down for a few seconds before charging each other once more. They exchanged another flurry of punches and kicks, trying to find another opening to exploit but with time winding down both of the fighters were being overly cautious to prevent each other from gaining an advantage.

With less than 30 seconds remaining in the fight, both young men charged in for one last exchange. Sasuke leading with a right jab, which Naruto slapped to the side as he stepped outside of the attack and drove a left cross into Sasuke's face. Right as his head was rocked back by the powerful cross, Sasuke had slightly pivoted and trapped Naruto's arms between his. The force of Naruto's punch combined with Sasuke pulling on his trapped arm drew Naruto forward into Sasuke's retaliating elbow, snapping the blond's head back slightly. The only reason that Naruto didn't stagger further back from the devastating attack was due to the fact that Sasuke failed to release his trapped arm fast enough.

Before Sasuke released Naruto's arm to throw a right cross with his full power behind the attack, Naruto used his trapped appendage as leverage to put his full weight behind a right hook aimed for Sasuke's jaw. Sasuke's cross landed squarely on Naruto's left eye a fraction of a second before Naruto's hook landed, forcing a solid shot to the jaw to drift off target impacting on the Uchiha's nose and eye instead.

Naruto and Sasuke were both staggered (and possibly concussed) from the simultaneous blows, and their faces were beginning to swell from the powerful exchanges that had taken place during the "spar". If they hadn't remained calm and determined, Iruka would have disqualified them early on, but since the typical smirks, taunts, and scowls were missing the instructor considered both of the teens fully in control of their emotions and decided not to penalize them for using just a bit more force than expected from a spar.

The teens attempted to right themselves for another charge, but the timer rang out signaling the end of their match. Panting from exertion and feeling the onset of swelling and bruises forming from their battle, the fighters studied each other as if trying to determine who was in worse shape than the other and neither of the two could find themselves at an advantage over the other. The cheers and boos from the rest of the crowd went ignored between the duo and instead of the usual taunting smirks or glares of contempt, the raven, and the blond merely exchanged respectful nods before exiting the ring.

A silent understanding formed between the two and the foundation for a bond was laid. Even if they would never become the best of friends or close confidantes, both boys would respect each other for what they were capable of, not what others believed they were or expected them to be.


	4. Beta v1,2

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 ** **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking****

 _ _ **Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts**__

 _ _Mental Communications__

[Chat Box/Text communication]

Edit 7/26

 **Beta v.1.2**

 **October 10** **th** **2246**

 **Hokage's Office – Hokage Tower**

* * *

Hiruzen sat behind his desk puffing on his pipe in a leisurely manner that was completely at odds with how the aged Hokage was feeling at the moment. Internally, the wizened shinobi was a bundle of nervousness and anxiety for what he was about to reveal. Not only for the sake of the village but for the sake of his young charge.

While Naruto's temperament had mellowed over the past four years, the young teen was still somewhat brash and emotional about sensitive topics. Despite all the experiences and training the young blond had been through over the past year, Naruto had maintained his high strung and over the top personality.

Considering who the boy's mother was, Hiruzen admitted that he could have been much worse.

There were parts of his father's personality that would break through the loud, and sometimes obnoxious front the boy maintained to protect himself. When the Academy challenges had managed to push the boy beyond his limit, that calm and collected nature emerged until Naruto felt secure in his success. Only then would he allow his audacious nature to re-emerge.

Looking up at the clock as another minute crawled by, the timeworn shinobi took a deep draw of his pipe and let the taste of the mellow tobacco linger in his mouth and lungs before exhaling to expel the smoke and, hopefully, a good amount of the stress that was winding him up at the moment. Considering what was about to take place, he knew that this night would be emotionally charged and stressful at best, with a strong chance that things could go badly.

Very badly.

He wouldn't deny the trepidation he felt at revealing the truth. A truth that had been hidden with the best intentions, but had condemned a young man to a life of misery and pain. Hiruzen couldn't put this off any longer, unfortunately, the situation was at a breaking point and forces outside of his control had forced his hand in revealing truths that should have remained hidden for much longer.

Tonight he would reveal the truth about the Kyūbi to young Naruto and possibly his heritage as well.

While the plan had been to wait until Naruto was older and more emotionally stable, that was no longer a possibility. The Anbu had discovered a plot concocted by one of the Academy instructors who was _disgruntled_ with his position and was being primed as an asset by one of Orochimaru's moles. From what intelligence they had managed to gather, the teacher had planned to sabotage the final graduation exam next year. Since the Academy was very strict on accepting reapplications from students that had failed previously, Naruto would be desperate to do anything to succeed. Even something as desperate as breaking into the Hokage's office to steal the Scroll of Seals.

The instructor would convince Naruto that stealing the scroll and learning a technique from it before sunrise would prove that he was more than capable of becoming a genin and his failure would be overlooked. In order to complete this test, however, he needed to be able to escape outside of the village's walls and demonstrate the jutsu he learned to the instructor after a few hours of study. Once Naruto arrived with the scroll, the traitor planned to reveal a skewed and heavily biased version of the truth about the Kyūbi being sealed inside of him. The stress and volatile emotions from such a revelation would either provide the traitor with an opportunity to claim the scroll and kill the "demon brat" he blamed for the loss of his family or the Kyūbi would take the opportunity to break free in that moment and provide the traitor with a cover for his own escape.

Knowing how intelligent his former student was at manipulating people and their emotions, Hiruzen had no doubt that Orochimaru had more planned for this scenario then simply recruiting a mediocre chūnin, even if said chūnin managed to successfully deliver a scroll as valuable as the Scroll of Seals to him. What was more likely was that Orochimaru sought to use the isolation and hatred that Naruto had been subjected to as a way to drive Naruto away from Konoha and into his clutches or rampage the village after losing control of his emotions.

If Mizuki managed to execute his role in this perfectly, Naruto could react in one of two ways:

Either the blond would feel despondent and hopelessness at his situation, allowing the Kyūbi to take advantage of the situation and seize control of his container. There would be massive damage and loss of life before they finally managed to subdue the beast once more and if Naruto did survive the entire mess, he would never be the same again.

The villagers would call for his head and there wouldn't be much he could do to placate their call for blood. The "best" option at that point would be to hide the boy away in Root where his spirit would be broken and he would become nothing more than an emotionless weapon and stud to spread the Uzumaki bloodline for the benefit of Konoha.

The other potential outcome, which Hiruzen calculated as the most plausible, would have Naruto feeling betrayed and enraged at the village for his situation. Giving into his anger and hatred, the Kyūbi might take advantage of the situation to turn Naruto against the village if Orochimaru didn't do so first. Naruto would no longer be loyal to the village, his sense of injustice fueling his bitterness and hatred which would only fester in the boy as the idiot villagers fanned the flames of his hatred. Then, when the opportunity presented itself, Naruto would enact his revenge on the villagers and would likely generate a massive amount of casualties before he was put down. And that was only if the boy didn't decide to simply unseal the Kyūbi in the center of the village out of spite.

Hiruzen rubbed his temples at his dark thoughts and once again wondered how the Kami seemed to lay one burden after another on the young teen. Naruto's whole existence had been plagued with one injustice after another and Hiruzen feared that this particular knowledge would finally break the boy's spirit.

The last thing he wanted was for the knowledge of the Kyūbi to be revealed by the hateful rantings of a traitor. He hoped that learning the truth about his parents would offset some of the bitterness and resentment that would come from learning that his mistreatment was entirely unjustified. For once, his advisers and the clan heads had agreed with him instead of their usual attempts to delay or block his efforts to make life easier on the boy.

While any decision involving Naruto was typically rife with political machinations, stonewalling, and back alley dealings, it was obvious that such news would not be received positively. The only way to try and counteract the bad news was to provide the boy with something that he had constantly requested to learn about. The clan heads and elders couldn't ignore the fact that the dim-witted, obtuse villagers had been slowly poisoning the boys' loyalty to the village with their ignorance.

It was bad enough that Naruto was beginning to suspect that the villagers despised him for a reason other than his inability to receive implants. Knowing who his father and mother were might be enough to smooth things over for the teen.

For once, Hiruzen was grateful to the foreigner's technology for helping to avert a disaster in the making. If it weren't for the new surveillance technology that had been installed by the Kyokutō Corporation, they wouldn't have learned about Mizuki's plans or the presence of other moles within Konoha. Ibiki was still working on the former assistant instructor, but the man was proving to be far more resilient than his dossier claimed.

They were able to learn that there were, at least, three more moles present in Konoha that were loyal to Orochimaru. Hiruzen already had the Anbu reviewing TRELLIS data and more surveillance footage to try and root these moles out. Sadly, Hiruzen knew that it was more likely that the moles had already learned of Mizuki's arrest and were likely in the process of enacting their own plans to either sabotage the village, escape undetected, or covering their tracks in order to lay low and wait for another opportunity to strike.

It was due to the knowledge that there were still moles operating within the village that had spurred him into revealing as much of the truth as possible to Naruto. He would start with the Kyūbi itself and see how the blond dealt with that knowledge before moving forward from there. Since the events of that night heavily involved both of his parents, it was highly likely that he would have to reveal the truth about them anyways. He could only hope that he managed to frame everything in a more positive light so Naruto wouldn't take things the wrong way.

Perhaps his trepidation at revealing this news was unfounded and the young blond would be able to process everything without stressing out too badly.

In a caring environment with someone he trusted, it might be easier for him to handle. If Naruto proved himself capable of dealing with then news, then he would also reveal the truth about his heritage. If the boy reacted badly, however, he would avoid revealing the truth as much as he could until Naruto proved he was ready to deal with that knowledge in a logical manner.

There wasn't much that he could do besides misdirecting him with half-truths or blatantly avoiding the subject, but Hiruzen knew that the second thing that would come to Naruto's mind after learning about the events surrounding his birth would be the fate of his parents. That was when the situation would become difficult.

In truth, while Hiruzen knew that Naruto wanted to learn the truth about his parents more than anything else, it was the identity of his father that Hiruzen feared to reveal the most. Even more than he feared to reveal the truth about the Kyūbi.

Naruto's situation in the village and his determination to change the views of all those who hated him would make it nearly impossible for the teen to keep that knowledge a secret. Given the fact that those same idiot villagers often praised his father before and/or after cursing his own existence, it was almost a given that the loud, emotionally charged boy might let the secret slip after losing his temper. And if Naruto did reveal that truth, that was when everything would go downhill for the teen.

It wouldn't take long for such a claim to spread throughout the village, and Hiruzen didn't doubt that most of the idiotic villagers would outright take offense to such a claim. Even if Hiruzen decided to confirm the truth by posting Naruto's birth certificate and DNA test publicly, there were too many people trapped in their misplaced grief to accept that the "demon brat" was actually the son of their most revered hero. Sadly, a great deal of those morons would probably react violently to the boys claims, and would probably make attempts on his life despite the threat of facing execution for such an act.

When Naruto's claim began to spread outside of the village, that was when the real trouble would begin. Both Iwa and Kumo would stop at nothing to confirm the rumors. If the Raikage ever managed to get a picture of the blond, that would be enough confirmation for the muscle-bound leader to make attempts at capturing or killing the boy. It wouldn't take long for the Tsuchikage to follow in the Raikage's footsteps once he had his own confirmation.

After Naruto graduated from the Academy, any team he was placed on would have a giant target painted on their backs from day 1. Any clients that requested that team specifically would have to be screened and vetted by Anbu and that wouldn't guarantee that they wouldn't be approached and bribed to betray the team anyways. Any encounter with foreign shinobi out in the field would likely result in an attack of opportunity while the team would also be forced to endure ambush after ambush every time they left the village walls.

That was not a situation that Hiruzen wanted Naruto (or any genin team) to endure. Having to constantly watch his back inside and outside of the village would put a great deal of strain on the boy's mental health. A strain that should be avoided at all costs when you needed your mental fortitude to keep the most destructive of bijū imprisoned inside of you.

Still, Hiruzen held onto the faith that Naruto's indomitable will would be enough to carry him through this crisis. His situation with the children of his generation had been improving so there was still hope that the cheerful blond would be able to take the news in stride.

Ever since Naruto had established a tentative bond with the youngest Uchiha last year, his situation had slightly improved with the clan heirs in his class. The reduction in his pranking sprees over the past four years had also helped to turn some of the blatant animosity towards him into passive intolerance, but the majority of the village still viewed him as an outright threat instead of a mere nuisance. Naturally, those parents pressured their children to avoid or even mistreat the blond in class since he was a "dangerous troublemaker that couldn't be trusted".

Fortunately, the number of civilian attendees to the Academy dropped exponentially each year as more kids failed to meet the necessary requirements to advance to the next level. After this year's first kill test, over 2/3rds of the civilian attendees had either failed outright or had chosen to drop out completely. While the elders had been displeased with the drastic drop in the number of potential graduates, Danzō, and the clan heads had approved of the results. This year's crop of genin was already proving to be the strongest since Itachi's generation several years prior.

With the focus on teamwork and developing specialized training routines for the last two years of the academy, there were already several prospective Genin who were pushing Chūnin level skills in certain areas. All of the clan heirs had flourished under the new system and were likely to be capable of handling C-ranked missions straight out of the academy.

The costs incurred by the village by extending the length of the Academy were already being offset by the benefits of the changes. Allowing the Academy students to handle the D-ranked missions had not only increased the number of menial tasks completed each week, it also weeded out the students who were only seeking glory and excitement instead of being committed to serving the village in any capacity.

With more D-ranks being completed in a timely fashion and Genin who would be capable of handling the lower level C-ranks immediately after leaving the Academy, the experienced Chūnin could now focus on taking more high C and B-ranked missions or training up to become Jōnin. The Jōnin who had been forced to clear out the backlog of B-ranks were now able to focus on A ranks or deal with the more trivial S-ranked missions that weren't dangerous enough to warrant a full Anbu team. This allowed the Anbu teams to focus on the more dangerous, and higher paying, missions that might have been put hold due to the limited number of Anbu teams capable of completing such missions.

The end result was that Konoha was able to accept more missions of each category, increasing the revenue and prestige of the village overall. The standing forces would grow stronger as they focused on higher tier missions instead of allowing their skills to stagnate with the lower ranked missions, and the mission requests were still completed in a timely fashion ensuring the clients were satisfied.

While Hiruzen had considered the benefits mentioned above when he made his changes, his main goal had been increasing the strength of the Genin from the start. His sensei had always expressed how Genin were the foundation of the village. Only with strong Genin were you ensured that your Chūnin and Jōnin ranks were strong.

If it hadn't been for the substantial losses after the Kyūbi attack, Hiruzen would have never allowed the standards at the Academy to have been lowered to their previous levels. The pressure to fill their ranks at a vulnerable time had been too strong and with the majority of applicants coming from the civilian sector, there was little he could do but accept the reduction in requirements with the caveat that the Jōnin sensei be allowed to test their assigned teams to ensure that they were capable of surviving in the field.

Now that he had raised standards beyond what even Tobirama had established during his reign, Hiruzen was confident that this particular batch of genin would be able to dominate the next Chūnin exams. Since this would be the first time in 30 years that the Chūnin exams would have all shinobi villages in attendance, Amegakure was chosen to host the exams since they were the only village that was completely neutral in its ties to every other village.

Even with only having six months of mission experience under their belt before the exams would begin, Hiruzen was certain that was more than enough time to meet the necessary requirements to qualify. With the two additional years of training time in the Academy, Konoha's genin would be more than prepared to face any teams from rival villages that were still using the old system of training genin. Even genin teams that were active for a year or two would find themselves hard pressed to deal with the advanced skills of Konoha's rookies, which would only make Konoha look even better to prospective clients.

Best of all, a strong showing in Ame would ensure that world received a powerful message: That not even a force like the Kyūbi was strong enough to weaken Konoha for long and that Konoha's position as the strongest of the big five was firmly secured.

Thinking about the future generation and their potential had always helped cheer the old shinobi up. He couldn't stop the small smile from showing on his typically emotionless face when he began to reminisce over at Naruto's own growth over the past eight years. It was amazing just how fast time had seemed to fly by as he began training the young blond. It seemed like only yesterday that the boy barely reached his waist in height and was an inexhaustible bundle of unfocused energy who was eager to enter the Academy.

If he hadn't been teaching Naruto and watching him grow into a young teen, he wouldn't have believed that the Kyūbi attack had taken place 14 years ago on this very night.

The sound of his office door creaking open drew the old Hokage out of his thoughts and he looked up at the person entering his office with a genuinely caring expression on his wizened face.

With the onset of puberty, Naruto had grown from his scant height of 4' 8", that had plagued him for most of his time at the Academy, to a healthy 5' 2". Just like his father, his hair was stubbornly spiky and wild, but while Minato's hair was long enough to drape over his brows while held back by his hitai-ate and he let the sides grow out, Naruto kept his hair cut shorter overall so that even when unrestrained as it typically was, the spikes never fell further than his brows, ensuring that his vision remained clear.

If Naruto hadn't inherited the large expressive eyes and wider chin of his mother, he would have been a dead ringer for his father. When you included the strange whisker marks from his birth and the golden hair that was just one shade shy of his fathers, it was understandable why the general populace couldn't see the relation in his features.

After a decade, even the most perceptive people's memories faded to a certain extent and given the fact that most of the populace would have looked upon Minato from afar or at the low-quality photos that were common during that time. Only those who were a part of Minato's or Kushina's inner circle of friends would be able to look at Naruto now and see the attributes he shared with his parents.

If they weren't blinded by their grief or their view wasn't colored by their bias, at any rate.

Hiruzen was happy that Naruto had started to take his advice about modifying his attire in favor of more subtle and functional outfits. While he still favored that ludicrous shade of orange above everything else. At least it was tempered down to a single thick stripe that ran down the sides of his dark blue sleeveless shirt. The dark blue, ¾ length pants that he wore were also trimmed with a pair of narrow stripes that ran from hip to hemline.

Instead of the usual bicep-length gloves that were commonly used by shinobi who opted for the Anbu style shirt, the young teen had opted to use dark blue combat wraps on his arms to match the wraps that covered his calves and ankles. Finishing off his look were a pair of black fingerless gloves with metal plating on the back and a pair of black, ankle length combat sandals on his feet.

While Naruto had managed to learn how to stop barging into his office unannounced quite some time ago, he still greeted Hiruzen in his usual loud and somewhat rude manner before gracing him with one of his genuine smiles. A rarity outside of his office or Ichiraku's ramen stand. It made the old Hokage's heart twinge with guilt knowing that he was going to essentially ruin this day for the young man.

Hiruzen always went out of his way to try and make this day somewhat enjoyable for Naruto since he wanted the boy to celebrate the day of his birth. A feat that was always challenging considering the fact that the animosity and tension towards his presence was always strongest on this day of remembrance. In the past, Hiruzen had always dreaded taking Naruto out on this day; expecting the child to be attracted to the colorful decorations and stands that were being set up for the festival and ask to attend. Yet, Naruto never asked him about the festival. Even as he grew older and was more than capable of crashing the festival on his own, Naruto opted to follow the same routine each year.

Stuff his face with ramen at Ichiraku's, open his presents with his usual excitement, and retire to his apartment for the evening before the festival kicked off.

If Hiruzen didn't know any better, he would have suspected that Naruto already knew the truth. Perhaps Naruto was perceptive enough to sense that his presence was unwanted, but a small part of Hiruzen suspected that the villagers most likely lashed out at him with increasing nastiness and hatred as the festival neared, forcing Naruto to become more reclusive and subdued as a result.

Hiruzen inwardly cursed the idiot villagers for their stupidity. It wouldn't be the first time he wished that he could do more to quell the animosity towards Naruto, but with the majority of the village's population being civilians, it was only natural that the Daimyō would put in some restrictions on the laws and punishments he could enact without the feudal lord's permission beforehand.

The rest of the problem stood with the bickering and politics of the various clans and his own advisers but nothing short of ordering a string of assassinations (that would likely get him forcibly removed from office) would solve that problem. While the political machinations had blocked most of his attempts at improving Naruto's life (hiring caretakers/tutors, increasing his monthly stipend, allowing a willing family to adopt him), they had also hindered some policies that would have been severely harmful to his well being. (exclusion from shinobi training/Academy, forced into Root, execution)

Next in line for his ire was Mizuki and Orochimaru for forcing his hand. All because they wanted nothing more than to make things difficult for him and the village for their own selfish, underhanded reasons. While Mizuki was nothing more than an insignificant annoyance in the bigger scheme of things he had set these events into motion with his own pathetic mediocrity and failure to accept the reality of his talent. Unable to deal with his feelings of inadequacy or the life of a true shinobi, he lashed out at the village scapegoat to conveniently forget how incompetent he was.

Orochimaru, being the opportunistic manipulator that he was, was the driving factor behind this whole mess and his endless efforts to lash out against the village for his _perceived_ betrayal were getting tiresome. Once again Hiruzen was filled with regret and wondered how he had gone so wrong as a sensei or how he had been so blind to Orochimaru's movements for so long.

Jiraiya was the only one of his students that still had a, somewhat, respectable reputation to the world. If he wasn't known to be such an unabashed pervert, the Toad Sannin would be the ideal replacement for him. As it stood now, however, Jiraiya was more content to wander the lands as a hermit using the excuse of maintaining his spy network and conducting "research" for his books in order to feed his wanderlust. Not someone that would inspire confidence in the village or the Daimyō to keep things running smoothly in the event of his retirement or death.

Tsunade, while highly talented, was too lost in her grief and misery that she was quickly tainting her family legacy with her penchant for getting black out drunk and gambling away what remained of the Senju fortune. She would have long become destitute if it weren't for the fact that her family owned 25% of the land in the merchant district and 30% of the wealthier residential districts. Even then, the leases were just enough to prevent her from going into massive debt.

"Oi, jiji, why did you call me so early today?" Naruto asked, drawing the old shinobi out of his rambling thoughts. Now was not the time for him to be scatterbrained.

"We usually don't go for ramen until we finished with after school training." added with a frown.

"Please take a seat, Naruto. I have something important to tell you." Hiruzen said softly.

Naruto took the seat in front of his desk as requested while his frown grew deeper. The old man, while caring and kind, had never spoken to him in anything less than a clear and confident voice. It was obvious the old man had something important on his mind, so he decided to remain silent instead of hassling the grandfatherly figure like he usually would.

Hiruzen sighed before he decided to delve head first into the issue at hand. "I want you to listen carefully to everything I am about to reveal to you. I know it will be difficult for you the hear, but I want you to try and keep an open mind about what you learn today." Hiruzen emphasized before asking. "Can you do that for me?"

Naruto nodded while grunting in affirmation.

"As you know, tonight is the anniversary of the Kyūbi's attack on our village 14 years ago, the very night that you were born and orphaned," Hiruzen said sadly. "What you don't know, however, is that what you were taught in the Academy about that tragic night isn't an accurate representation of what truly occurred on that night." Hiruzen paused briefly to let that statement set in while he studied Naruto's reaction.

The primary emotion he could see on Naruto's face was confusion, as was expected.

"The reality of what happened that night was classified as an S-ranked secret and was to remain that way until you had matured enough to view those events with a more logical eye. Unfortunately, certain circumstances have forced me to reveal the truth to you earlier than I expected. " Hiruzen said while looking at Naruto with regret prominent on his face. "I just want you to know that the only reason I kept this knowledge from you was because I didn't want to add another burden onto your shoulders when you should be enjoying what little childhood you have left to you," Hiruzen said before he stood up and walked around his desk to look out the window.

Naruto remained seated but he turned his body to the side so he could look over at the aged Hokage. He couldn't ignore the sense of dread that was quickly building inside of him. His mind raced through various different scenarios about what could have happened that night that the village would go to such lengths to cover up, but he was drawing a blank. While he wasn't stupid by any means, he had never been good at picking up on veiled or obscure clues to see the overall picture. Any puzzles or games that required logical deduction or long term strategy had always been difficult for him. While he was slower than average when it came to that form of thinking, he had always excelled when it came to thinking and planning while under pressure.

An exchange that he was more than happy to accept given his chosen career path.

Hiruzen turned his attention back to Naruto before speaking again. "Have you ever noticed that whenever you use kanji to write the word ninja, that you are combining the characters for Endure and Person together?" Hiruzen asked rhetorically.

Naruto simply shook his head with a frown a little thrown off by the sudden change in topics. He had heard this particular lecture once; before he had entered the Academy for the first time. While he was about to ask what this had to do with the truth about the Kyūbi attack, he decided it was best to simply remain silent for now. If it were anyone else, he would have badgered them to get to the point already, but since the Hokage had gone out of his way to help and care for him, Naruto treated him a great deal of deference in the only way that he knew how: by giving the old man his trust and actually listening to his lectures, no matter how boring and long they were. While he might be long winded, Naruto had learned that he never drifted off topic without a reason.

"The reason these characters were selected to form the word "ninja" was because those were the primary attributes necessary to live the life of a shinobi. To walk the path of a shinobi, one must endure hardships and suffering. Unlike civilian children who can enjoy a happy and carefree childhood until they reach adulthood, shinobi children must sacrifice their childhood in order to prepare for the struggles and pain that comes from the life of a shinobi. It is only through this sacrifice that a child becomes prepared to endure the life of a shinobi." Hiruzen walked up to Naruto ruffled his hair affectionately before making his way back to his desk to refill his pipe.

As he packed the bowl with a more fragrant tobacco, he continued with his lecture, hoping to lull Naruto into a calm, bored state of mind so that the initial buildup of emotions wouldn't be as severe. He knew he had given this lecture to the boy before, and he was counting on that memory to help further settle Naruto down from his previous anticipation for ramen and presents. Now he would just need to change the lecture up a bit so that the boy entered a more introspective mood. Hopefully, this would put the blond into the right mood to think about what he learned instead of latching on to his initial reaction which was likely to be a bad one.

"The difference between a civilian's life and a shinobi's life is like comparing a candle with a flare," Hiruzen said after a few puffs on his pipe. "If there is no wind or rain to disturb the candle, its light, while small, is steady and will burn for most of the day until it sputters out in silence," Hiruzen said before taking a deep draw of his pipe and blowing at a few smoke rings. "The light from a flare explodes into existence, a bright and vibrant light that draws everyone's attention to it. Even in a torrential downpour with heavy winds, the flare will continue to illuminate everything around it far brighter than even a dozen candles ever could, but in exchange for the 8 – 12 hours of light you get from a candle, the light from the flare will only last you a few hours, at best."

Hiruzen saw Naruto nod in response to his little anecdote. He could tell that the blond's exuberance had been tempered by his little story, and the hint of anxiety and confusion that had begun to take hold in him earlier appeared to have vanished. He let the silence build between them for a few moments before clearing his throat in preparation for the big reveal.

"Now, I am sure you are wondering what that little lecture had to do with the truth behind the Kyūbi attack," Hiruzen said with a small smirk on his face. "I just wanted to remind you that you have chosen the path of a shinobi. You have chosen to endure a life of hardship and that you, Naruto, have already walked further down this path than anyone else in this village." Hiruzen said solemnly.

Hiruzen saw a bit of disbelief and confusion begin to play out on Naruto's face but didn't let him dwell on his statement before delving into the heart of the issue.

"The truth behind the events surrounding that night are the primary reason why your life has been so difficult, Naruto. The reason the villagers treat you with such hatred, the reason why you were unable to undergo the process of cyberization, both of these are tied directly into what happened to you on that terrible night." The Hokage answered calmly before elaborating further when he saw the question in Naruto's eyes. "In an attempt to give you the chance to live a normal life, I forbid anyone from revealing the truth to you and any other children born since the Kyūbi attack, but the villagers couldn't forget those tragic events so easily. While they couldn't reveal the true reason for their animosity towards you without being punished, they used any and every excuse to make life miserable for you in the hopes that the true target of their grief would suffer along with you." Hiruzen stated.

"I don't understand..." Naruto started but Hiruzen held his hand up to stop Naruto from continuing.

"That is what I am about to explain to you right now," Hiruzen replied in a soothing tone before clearing his throat once more. "The truth about that night was that the Yondaime was unable to defeat the Kyūbi and send him back to Yomi (land of the dead), like the stories claim. In truth, the Kyūbi was not a demon but a bijū. A creature that is made up of nothing more than a mass of chakra and sentience. No one knows where the bijū originated from, but even the earliest records and legends mention just how powerful and destructive the bijū are. Because the bijū are nothing more than chakra in a condensed form, it is impossible to permanently defeat or kill a bijū. When injured or forced to use up their chakra reserves, they simply disperse and reform their bodies later on." Hiruzen explained.

"If the Yondaime didn't sacrifice himself to the Shinigami to send the Kyūbi back to Yomi, then what really happened to the Kyūbi?" Naruto asked quietly.

"The part about the Yondaime sacrificing himself to the Shinigami is actually true, but what happened to the Kyūbi itself is where the truth has been concealed," Hiruzen answered. "In order to ensure that the Kyūbi couldn't simply reform and attack the village later on the Yondaime called upon the Shinigami to imprison the Kyūbi within a seal at the cost of his life and soul," Hiruzen said with a weary sigh. "Unfortunately for us, the Kyūbi is far too powerful to seal away into a simple scroll or object, even with the Shinigami's help. Without a proper vessel, the Kyūbi would simply use its power to break free and wreak havoc once more."

Hiruzen took a few more puffs on his pipe before disposing of the ash in his ashtray and setting the pipe down. This part would require his full attention and he needed to be ready for any reaction or outburst Naruto might have from this point on.

"In order to keep the Kyūbi contained, the seal it was placed in needed to have a steady supply of chakra to keep the seal strong. The only way this could be accomplished was to seal the Kyūbi inside of a person, but not any person could be chosen for this task." Hiruzen stated bluntly. "Only a newborn child could safely contain the volatile and corrosive chakra of the Kyūbi without suffering the side effects. Since the child's chakra network is underdeveloped, it is able to accept and adapt to having both regular chakra and the Kyūbi's chakra without any issues. This allows the seal to not only be powered by the child's chakra but it also helps to make the seal more resistant to the Kyūbi's chakra as well." Hiruzen stated as he studied Naruto carefully.

He could see that Naruto had put the pieces together on his own and was beginning to realize the truth. Judging from the way that Naruto was avoiding his gaze by looking down at the ground with his fists clenched and his shoulders tensed made it obvious that he was not taking the news well. Still, he had to press forward with all the details around the sealing or else someone might use that against him in the future.

"While the Yondaime needed a newborn child to seal the Kyūbi, another special circumstance had to be taken into account when trying to seal a bijū as powerful as the Kyūbi." Seeing Naruto partially raise his head, Hiruzen knew he was still listening and continued. "Only a child that was guaranteed to have a large and powerful chakra network could successfully house the Kyūbi without dying. Throughout history, many people have tried and failed to seal the Kyūbi away. The only clan who had managed to keep the Kyūbi sealed away successfully and still live long, healthy lives were all members of the Uzumaki clan." Hiruzen stepped closer to Naruto and adopted a more caring tone as he continued with the explanation. "For some reason, the bloodline traits and chakra natures of the Uzumaki clan seem to be extra powerful against all the bijū, allowing them to even subdue and control the Kyūbi who many people thought was too powerful to contain. It was one of the reasons why Kumo and Kiri teamed up with each other to wipe out the Uzumaki clan despite their hatred for each other. They feared the abilities of your clan would be used to contain and control their jinchūriki, people who are chosen to bear the burden of a bijū. Since Kumo and Kiri both relied heavily on their jinchūriki to augment the strength of their forces at that time, they considered the Uzumaki clan too great of a threat to ignore. Despite what the history books claim, Iwa's involvement in the downfall of Uzushio was really only an opportunistic assault to try and strike directly at Konoha while we were distracted." Hiruzen stated solemnly. "By the time we pushed Iwa back and were able to send reinforcements to our allies, it was already too late and the Uzumaki clan was all but eliminated."

Naruto remained silent as he digested that bit of information. Before the old man had told him about the need for an Uzumaki to contain the Kyūbi he had wondered why the Yondaime had chosen him of all people. Was it because his parents had died and they couldn't protest? Did the Yondaime just carelessly grab the first kid he laid eyes on or did something more sinister happen.

The darker part of himself wondered if the reason he was an orphan was because they had to eliminate his parents in order to secure him to seal away the Kyūbi, but he shook that thought from his head. The old man had always spoken of the Yondaime with a great deal of admiration and respect and all the stories that he was told involving the Yondaime painted the man as a selfless, kind, and noble man who was caring towards his friends, and respectful to his enemies.

Either his parents had died in the attack like the old man had told him, or they had abandoned him because of his burden and the old man was trying to spare him the pain of knowing the truth. Since the old man seemed to be intent on coming clean to him, perhaps he could pressure the man into revealing the truth about his parents.

As he was growing up, Naruto had noticed that his stamina, chakra reserves, and powerful healing rate were unusual and had wondered if he had been born with a bloodline inherited from his unidentified parents. Then he had learned about the Uzumaki clan and the fall of Uzushio in the Academy. There had been a brief period of hope on his part that he was a part of the long lost clan and that he might have relatives hiding out in the world, but the books had stated that one of the trademark characteristics of an Uzumaki was the blood red hair they were famous for. And while the books acknowledged the fact that the Uzumaki clan had significantly larger chakra reserves and longer lifespans, those traits weren't considered as being due to the bloodline. Only their ability to manifest chakra in a physical form like the forming of chains or the creations of seals without using blood, ink, or paper were considered part of the bloodline, a trait that Naruto hadn't inherited to his knowledge.

While one of his parents might have been an Uzumaki, the clan was pretty much extinct and no one knew of any surviving Uzumaki so he was on his own, as usual. Without any of the distinctive traits of the Uzumaki, anyone could dispute his claim so the only thing he had to show for his relationship to that famous clan was the name he was given. A name that might not even be his own, considering his status as an orphan. If they were keeping the truth about what he was a secret, it was completely possible they were keeping his real name a secret as well.

At least it now made sense as to why the villagers had an unreasonable hatred towards him no matter how he behaved. When they looked at him, they saw the very demon who had killed and destroyed so much of the village on that night.

It explained why he had the strange whisker marks on his face, why every cut or minor wound he had sustained healed in a matter of minutes or hours, and why his chakra was so different and unruly to control in comparison to all the other kids in his class.

While everyone else in his class had light blue or white chakra, his chakra had always displayed as a purplish red color, something that had caused the instructors to look at him with disgust and suspicion. Even Iruka had been put off by his chakra at the beginning.

The more he thought over what he had learned, the more that his fragile control over the riot of emotions storming inside of him began to break. Warring for dominance in his mind were several different emotions that began to give way to each other as everything that he had been forced to endure in his short life was replayed in his mind.

The first and foremost emotion had, naturally, been shock, followed closely by a sense of injustice. Next were anger and hatred as his mind took a darker turn before he managed to calm himself a bit before slumping into resignation about his situation. Following shortly after that resignation, however, was despair.

The shock was obvious. Anyone would feel this way after learning that a nine-tailed fox of mass destruction was sealed away inside of you. Just trying to comprehend such a thing was a difficult process. Knowing how large and powerful the bijū had been only made it easier to deny the truth, but Naruto didn't bother with the denial for long. Everything the old man had told him had fit in with what he had experienced in his life.

That was when the feeling of injustice had taken prominence. This emotion was fed mainly by the belief that he was being treated unfairly for something he had no possible way of preventing. He was the only Uzumaki, that he knew of, in Konoha and the Hokage had explicitly stated that only an Uzumaki child could have contained the Kyūbi. It seemed extremely unfair that the villagers had treated him so terribly for circumstances that were completely beyond his control. It wasn't like he had a choice about containing the bijū given the fact that he had just been _born_ on that very night.

This thought naturally led him to the anger and hatred.

Anger because those stupid bastards had made him suffer for no reason. Their unjustified scorn and hatred had made him miserable all because they needed a scapegoat to deal with their grief and anger. There was no way that those idiots could have forgotten that he was nothing but a baby when the incident occurred, but they chose to ignore that fact and unleash all their misery and pain on him because they were incapable of dealing with their feelings in a constructive manner. And since he had no choice but to bear this burden and suffer their hatred for it, it only felt natural for him to return that hatred.

If they were too stupid to realize that nothing that happened that night was his fault then he could care less about how they felt. If anything, he should make their lives even more miserable in retaliation for making him suffer unjustly. Naruto's mind began to drift down the dark path of vengeance as he imagined returning the hatred heaped upon him in the form of pranks and retaliatory measures that continued to get more damaging and destructive. When he began to envision using the more fatal traps he had learned of in the Academy, that was when he forced himself to reign in those dark thoughts.

That was when resignation began to take priority. Naruto knew, deep down, that lashing out at those idiots would only make things harder for him in the long run. Not only would those people feel justified in taking out their anger on him, but the rest of the village would continue to support their efforts and even join in on making his life miserable. Not only that but taking such actions would only make things difficult for the very few people who actually cared for him and tried to make his life better.

That was when the despair began to kick in.

Naruto had been working hard to prove himself because he thought their reasoning behind treating him with scorn was due to something that was trivial in his mind. The fact that he was unaugmented and couldn't receive cybernetics seemed like such a foolish reason to look down on him, but if he could maintain and even surpass his peers the people would recognize his efforts and give him the acknowledgment he craved.

Now that he knew the truth, he couldn't help but feel that his goals of being accepted and recognized as a person might actually be _impossible_. How could he expect them to treat him as a person when they saw nothing but the "demon" when they looked at him? For years, they had seen nothing but the Kyūbi when they looked at him and that hatred for what he contained had festered inside of them the entire time.

Was he doomed to an existence of constantly being seen only as the demon inside of him? He still couldn't get implants of any kind so the newer generation would always view him as a naturalist freak and loser while their parents encouraged them to look down on him and treat him like trash because they only saw him as a demon. It seemed like his dream of becoming Hokage and gaining the acceptance of the village was nothing more than a foolish impossibility for someone like him.

As long as he held the Kyūbi inside of him, no one would ever recognize him for who he truly was and as long as he held the Kyūbi inside of him, he couldn't embrace the technology that everyone in his generation relied on. How could he ever relate to anyone and run the village as a respected leader if they all viewed him with distrust, hatred, contempt, and even mockery?

Naruto tried to fight back the tears as the despair ripped through him, but he failed miserably. His shoulders began to shudder as he tried to choke back the sobs, but the tears continued to flow freely. Like a crushing weight bearing down on him, he felt his hopes and dreams get demolished by the cruel reality of his situation.

As Naruto collapsed onto his hands and knees the darkness seemed to close in around him. So lost in his storm of emotions he failed to notice that his surroundings had changed completely. Instead of the wooden floor of the Hokage's office, he was now kneeling in ankle-deep water inside of a dank sewer-like tunnel. Not even the massive cage in front of him or the giant fox that was peering down at him could draw him out of his shock and misery, at least not until the massive beast spoke.

" **How pathetic. After all that barking about determination and proving your worth, you give up so easily."** The Kyūbi rumbled out.

Naruto shot his head up and stared in shock at the massive cage and the Kyūbi that was staring down at him like an insect.

"W-what? H-how-" Naruto sputtered but the Kyūbi cut him off before he could continue.

" **Isn't it obvious you fool?"** The Kyūbi snorted. **"That old ape just told you about my presence within you just a few short moments ago. Are you truly so simple minded that you still can't connect the dots or has your feeble brain reached the limit of knowledge it can contain?"**

"That's not what I am confused about you overgrown furball!" Naruto shouted. If he was in his right mind, he might have reconsidered shouting at the strongest of the bijū but his self-control was long gone in light of everything he had learned.

"Where am I? How did I get here? And why do _you_ care if I give up or not, huh?" Naruto spat. "You don't have to deal with all the bullshit those bastards put me through even though all of it is your fault in the first place!"

" **Insolent little brat."** The Kyūbi growled out in anger. **"You think I wanted to be trapped inside of someone as pathetic as you? You think I want to listen to your foolish rants about the unfairness of life while you are free to move about and do whatever you desire? You know** _ **nothing**_ **about injustice!"** The Kyūbi roared.

"Oh, and you do? Forgive us for trying to protect our village from your rampage oh mighty Kyūbi!" Naruto shouted in a sarcastic tone. "At least I am smart enough to know that if I start laying waste to a village they might, I don't know, seal me away or imprison me in an attempt to stop me from killing everyone!"

" **Fool! You know nothing!"** The Kyūbi snarled as it slammed into the cage trying to reach Naruto and tear him apart with his claws. **"You shout and scream about recognition and respect while acting like a total idiot and you wonder why people view you as a joke?"**

"All they see when they look at me is _you!_ So, who is it that they really think is a joke?" Naruto retorted.

" **Hah! If you had a modicum of talent or strength then you could force those idiots to recognize you."** The Kyūbi said with a mocking laugh. **"As you are now, you are nothing! Weak! Pathetic! Useless! Continue to wallow in your despair, it only makes the seal holding me weaken faster and eventually I will break out and destroy the very few things you hold dear."** The Kyūbi's sneer turned into a vicious grin. **"I know! Why not simply end your miserable existence since the number of people who care for you can be counted on a single paw! I doubt they will truly miss your presence for long considering how loud and obnoxious you are. They might even be** _ **relieved**_ **that you are no longer around to bother them. Your suffering will finally come to an end, and I can reform and continue with my goal of burning this filthy village to the ground!**

Naruto glared at the Kyūbi and clenched his fists in rage at the kitsune's words. All his life he had heard similar statements from the more vicious villagers and it awoke the resolve that had been squelched by the overwhelming storm of emotions that had swept through him earlier.

"Fuck you, furball! I am not weak, pathetic, useless or obnoxious!" Naruto shouted at the fox as he shook in anger. "If giving into despair or giving up on my dreams is the only way for you to break free, then get ready to stay here for a very long time you bastard. I'll show you and the rest of those fucking villagers that all of you are wrong about me!" Naruto growled.

"I worked my ass off and made it into one of the top spots in my class despite the disadvantage _you_ left me with, and I won't stop there! I'll make you and all those idiot villagers eat their words when I become the strongest shinobi in the village and they have no choice but to bow to me as Hokage." Naruto said with vehemence.

" **Bah. Like someone as loud and uncouth as you would be capable of such greatness. Don't make me laugh."** The Kyūbi said with a huff. **"Now get out of my sight you miserable cretin. I grow tired of your useless barking."**

Before Naruto could respond a wave of malevolent red chakra slammed into him as his vision began to go black, he heard the Kyūbi say something before he lost consciousness.

" **I do not often tolerate such weakness, brat, but you have earned my interest with the determination and resolve you had shown before this day. Prove to me that my interest is not misplaced and I may lend you my strength instead of making things difficult for you."** The Kyūbi mumbled before settling back down in a relaxed position and closing its eyes.

When Naruto came to, he briefly opened his eyes to find himself looking up at a stark white ceiling with the heavy scent of antiseptic surrounding him. Fighting back the groan that threatened to escape him when he realized that he had likely been admitted to the mental hospital by the old man, Naruto snapped his eyes shut as he ran through his memories and tried to process everything that he had been revealed to him.

Not only was his life hell because the Yondaime had no choice but to seal the Kyūbi inside of him, but it was likely that his life would only continue to suck because most of the village was too lost in their grief to recognize him as a human being. At first, this knowledge had sent him spiraling into a vicious circle of hatred and despair that had tested the limits of his sanity. Then the Kyūbi had berated and insulted him to the point that his temper finally snapped, when he unleashed all his pent up frustration and anger, determined to put the bastard fox in his place, the fur ball decided to give him a backhanded compliment that could be misconstrued as a form of encouragement.

Naruto didn't know what to think about that if he was honest with himself.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself from the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him again, he tried to look at his current situation in a more logical manner.

First was the fact that the villagers hated him for something beyond his control. The only thing that had changed about this situation was that he finally knew why they hated him so much. Knowing that the Kyūbi was inside of him didn't change the fact that he _had_ made some progress in changing their opinions of him. While most of the people still held disdain for him, a good amount had begun to simply ignore his existence or treat him with mild intolerance.

The only change in this situation is that he finally realized that instead of having to metaphorically struggle up a hill in order to prove himself, he was now staring down a massive, vertical mountain face that he had to overcome before he could gain the acceptance of the villagers. While he might never earn the praise and adoration of those who had lost family and friends to the Kyūbi, there was nothing wrong with simply earning their respect.

Oddly enough this realization allowed him to breathe easier. Before he had learned about the Kyūbi, he had been aiming to earn more than just simple respect, but at the same time, the situation had been more optimistic because he was blind to the reality of his circumstances.

Now that he knew the truth, it no longer seemed worth his time to gain adoration from the masses. It was highly unlikely that he would ever succeed. Even if he had managed to save each of these idiots lives individually, there was too much of a history with the fox inside of him for those simple minded people to accept him for who he was. If they were too stupid to see the fact that a young blond child wasn't a giant nine tailed kitsune of destruction, how could he expect them to see the truth?

Before such thoughts were considered anathema to him, and he would adamantly refuse to stop working towards gaining complete acceptance from every last person that had shown animosity towards him. Now, however, he could accept that fact that not everyone would like him. Not only that, but he didn't need to work so hard to please people who couldn't be bothered to expend any effort to try and learn the truth about him as a person.

After the final exams last year, he had earned Sasuke's respect by matching him blow for blow during their spar. At the end, it probably helped that Sasuke had managed to take 1st place overall, but instead of berating him and insulting his lack of family, Sasuke had recognized him.

Just that act alone had made things so much better for him this year. The remaining fangirls and civilians students that had survived the exams and first kill test no longer treated him with blatant contempt or insulted him simply because he lacked augmentation. Sasuke actively sought him out for practice and training whenever the class had free training, and while he wouldn't consider them _friends_ , he could say that they were comrades in arms.

Once before he had claimed to get serious and, if necessary, beat the sense into the villagers one person at a time. If he could win over the arrogant Uchiha heir, then it was possible for him to win anyone else over. He would just have to work harder and take things even more seriously from now on. He also didn't need to gain anything more than the respect. Even if it was begrudging respect, that alone was enough to improve his status in the village to a degree that he could accomplish his dream.

The second thing he had learned was that he still fostered a great deal of resentment for the people who treated him poorly. While he had tried to bury such feelings in the past in his quest to gain the approval of everyone, now he had to face those feelings head on. Knowing _why_ they had hated him didn't change the fact that he felt their treatment of him had been grossly unfair but it helped alleviate some of that resentment.

Now he could at least understand their hatred and while it was still unwarranted, at least there was a logical reason behind it. Even if that logic was faulty and twisted. When he believed their bias and mistreatment was a symptom of something so trivial as being unaugmented, their curses and scorn had left him so confused and desperate to understand why they treated him so badly because of something so minor.

As he grew older, it became obvious that the villagers hated him for some other reason, and not knowing or understanding why had made dealing with that hatred even more of a struggle. It had been painful to deal with such unrelenting hatred without a tangible reason behind it and he couldn't help but wonder if he was somehow at fault for causing such pain in people that they would despise him for it. He couldn't help but wonder if he actually deserved their animosity and scorn, even if he didn't know why.

Now that he was able to understand the why, he was surprised to find that he felt lighter than he had in years. Not even the fact that their primary excuse for hating him wouldn't ever go away could dampen this feeling that a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, even if his goal seemed almost insurmountable because of it, the burden seemed easier.

At least there was no more confusion.

At least he didn't have to lie awake at night wondering what was wrong with him.

After his breakdown in the Hokage's office, that storm of emotions had almost been too much for him and for a moment he had thought that his tentative grip on sanity had finally failed. Now he could kind of understand what the villagers were going through when they saw him. The hatred and despair had been so strong that it had overwhelmed any logic or rationality in his mind in that moment.

Given the fact that it was common knowledge that civilians typically had weaker minds and fortitude when it came to tragedy and hardship due to their lack of training, it only made sense that they had no experience dealing with such emotions. Shinobi were conditioned for witnessing destruction and death and there were lessons and councilors on hand to help them learn how to cope with such emotions. While such resources were also available to the civilians, the costs weren't paid for by the village. If a civilian needed that type of help they had to pay for it out of their own pocket and make free time out of their work schedule to speak with the counselor.

In fact, Naruto suspected that the civilians preferred to rely on their family and friends to support them. Family and friends that probably no longer exist because the Kyūbi had wiped them all out in one night.

In his mind's eye, Naruto pictured the Old Village area he used to frequent often in his youth. Back then his interest had been more on exploration and discovering things that he didn't really pay much attention to just how much damage the area had sustained. Now, with a more focused eye on the details, he could see the massive amount of destruction that the Kyūbi had wrought. The Old village was almost a quarter of the entire village, a stark realization of just how much of the population had been affected by the rampaging bijū. That wasn't even considering all the areas that had been repaired or rebuilt since that night.

That raised the question of how the villagers knew he was the one the Kyūbi had been sealed into in the first place. Since the old man had gone through so much effort to conceal the truth, why wasn't his status as a "jinchūriki" kept hidden as well?

Was it because of his name? That seemed unlikely since the Hokage could have easily given him a false name from the get go with his parents dead or abandoning him.

That was the second question that came to the young blond's mind. Did his parents really die or did they abandon him because of the Kyūbi inside of him? Had his parents truly loved him or did they view him as the hated demon like everyone else?

Naruto's heart clenched at the thought of his parents despising him and abandoning him to face the hatred of the entire village. Did his parents curse his presence like the rest of the village? Had they been one of the ones to run him off or throw things at him? Did they leave the village in disgrace or did they flee in order to forget his existence?

It was pretty sad that the best outcome he could hope for was that his parents had died the night of the attack. Naruto couldn't stop the bitter chuckle from escaping his lips when he had that thought. He had promised to himself that he wouldn't cry or show weakness in front of anyone since that day he broke down in front of the Hokage eight years ago, now he might have to stop laughing at his own thoughts or they would really believe he had lost his mind.

Naruto swiped his forearm over his misty eyes. Crying wouldn't solve anything and he needed answers from the old man. Regardless of knowing the truth to those question, nothing about his situation had really changed. He had just gained knowledge and a new perspective of things.

He _would_ force all the idiots in the village to recognize him as Naruto Uzumaki; not the Kyūbi.

He _would_ become the strongest shinobi in the village, even without the advantage of augmentation or cybernetics.

He _would_ become the Hokage and everyone in the village would have to look up to him with the respect he deserved.


	5. Beta v1,3

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking**

 _ _ **Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts**__

 _Mental Communications_

 _[Chat Box/Text communication]_

Edit 12/27/16

 **Beta v.1.3**

 **July 15** **th** **, 2247**

 **Training Ground 3**

* * *

Kakashi Hatake sat concealed within the crown of a tree, studying the group of genin he would have to teach. The young veteran couldn't help but reminisce as he studied the trio below him. As he took note of their personalities and mannerisms, the painful memories of the past had come rushing back. The stark similarities this group had in comparison to his own teammates out of the Academy was unsettling for the former Anbu captain.

Naruto was so much like Obito, even if part of it was a mask to cope with the amount of hostility he had been surrounded with as a child. That fiery determination to prove his worth to people who looked down on him as an outsider, as anathema. He even had that same intuitive yet oblivious intelligence and that uncommonly strong charisma that could inspire allies or sway enemies to his side.

There were a few subtle differences between the two, however. Unlike Obito, Naruto wasn't goofy and carefree about things. Naruto also had a lot more skill to justify his overconfident demeanor because he had taken his training seriously in the Academy. Obito had been a goof off and class clown in the Academy, more interested in making friends then taking his training seriously. It wasn't until he joined Team 7 and tried to gain Rin's attention that he began to train with motivation.

The pink haired civilian girl was more like Rin then he expected. Reports from the Academy had pegged her as a book smart fangirl who would likely wash out of the combat division after facing a particularly trying combat situation. From studying her movements, however, he could tell that her body was almost entirely prosthetic.

Unlike most civilians, who opted for the low to mid-level artificial limbs manufactured from Kyokutō or Kenbishi, Sakura had convinced her parents to shell out more for the Megatech combat enhanced prosthesis. That told Kakashi that she was far more serious about being a kunoichi than appearances would dictate. Her entire skill set seemed to have been carefully crafted to cover her weaknesses and highlight her strengths with a particular goal in mind. Even if her infatuation with the Uchiha was her primary motivation, at least she would have a strong foundation to work with if things didn't go how she planned.

The youngest son of Fugaku seemed to also be a bit different from the reports. Kakashi could see how the similarities between himself as a genin and Sasuke when it came to their abilities and flaws. While Sasuke was trying his hardest to overcome the perceived stain his disability had left on his father's legacy and the clan as a whole; Kakashi had been trying to overcome the stain of failure and dishonor that had tainted the Hatake name and drove his father to suicide.

Itachi had warned him that Sasuke was so determined to gain Fugaku's acceptance and recognition from the clan, that he had become blinded to the reality of his situation. Itachi had tried his best to steer Sasuke away from the traditional mentality of elitism and arrogant pride that had filled the clan with ruthless, power hungry individuals, but the schedule of an Anbu captain was a busy one. Fugaku spent every moment of his free time indoctrinating Sasuke with the Uchiha propaganda and the clan head had far more time on his hands than Itachi did.

Their mother, Mikoto, had also tried her best to foster a more caring, team friendly mentality, but as long as Fugaku maintained the determination to raise Sasuke to follow the beliefs of the clan, there wasn't much Mikoto could do. At best she was limited to making subtle comments and passively encouraging Sasuke when he deviated from expected behavior. If someone outside of the immediate family were to learn about Mikoto's actions, however, the vultures wouldn't hesitate to swoop down and try to oust them from control.

Knowing the vultures were ever circling meant they couldn't afford to show weakness at all. Any sign of division or "weakness" perceived in the Clan head's family would be leaped on in an instant, like when word of Sasuke's condition had spread throughout the clan. Fugaku and Mikoto had to show a united front in the face of everything lest they are forced into the proving grounds once more. Since a majority of the clan felt that Sasuke should have been put down at birth, all eyes were on him to succeed as expected of an Uchiha, or they would take advantage of the situation in any way they could. The clan would constantly pick at the main family until a vulnerability they could exploit was exposed. After all, it was the way of the strong to ensure that their leaders were strong at all times. If they were unable to keep those beneath them in their place, they didn't deserve to be at the top.

While Kakashi could still see that arrogance and superior attitude in the way Sasuke carried himself, his somewhat cordial interactions with Naruto seemed to imply that Sasuke might be taking Itachi's words to heart. Even if Sasuke was only using Naruto to gauge his own progress and strength. Treating him as a rival meant that Sasuke admitted that Naruto was, at least, on the same level as him. That was a major step in countering the Uchiha's mentality of never relying on anyone or anything but your own power and strength. A belief that fostered the ruthlessness and power hungry nature of the clan since the time of Madara.

Kakashi closed his eye and leaned his head back against the rough tree bark. The emotions he had suppressed for so long threatening to break free once more. He had never wanted this responsibility. He never wanted to let anyone close to him again, but the Hokage refused to let him be. The Hokage claimed that the only way to lift him out of his darkness was to open himself up once more, but Kakashi didn't think he was strong enough to survive more loss.

Everyone that he grew close to died before their time. _Everyone_. Opening himself up to these bright young lives would only ensure that their light would be snuffed out before it could truly shine. The curse of his existence dragging them into darkness or the afterlife.

Why couldn't the Sandaime see that?

It was the main reason he had driven everyone off with his annoying habits. To keep them safe from his curse and prevent himself from suffering that pain once more. Only Gai was too stubborn to keep his distance, despite how rude and indifferent he treated the Green Beast of Konoha. The last thing he needed was a trio of impressionable genin to get attached to him. For him to have to protect them only to watch them die in front of him, just like his teammates had. The last thing he needed was to get close to anyone, ever again.

Especially Naruto.

It had nothing to do with what was sealed inside of him or the painful similarities the boy had with his father and mother. No, it was the fact that Kakashi knew that being around Naruto would force him to open up once more. Naruto with that same damned charisma as Obito would smash through all his barriers and worm his way into his heart; cursing himself with an untimely death or horrible fate. And Kakashi would have to watch it all go down, helpless, just like in the past.

Kakashi clenched his fist, an action that proved his current state of agitation. Being the consummate professional that he was, Kakashi never let his emotions show. Years in Anbu had taught him how to control himself in all situations and keep his feelings hidden from even the most perceptive people. A decade of controlling himself shattered just by the sight of mere genin. It should be embarrassing, but Kakashi knew it was more of a foreboding. He knew this was going to end badly. He knew that he should fail them outright, send them back to the Academy so another sensei could be responsible for them and he wouldn't have to watch as they suffered and died.

He knew he was being a _coward_ but just didn't care anymore.

Yet, there was a gnawing guilt inside of him that had grown with a vengeance when he had seen Naruto was on his team. The old bastard had probably done it on purpose knowing that his ultimate flaw was his failure to escape the ghosts of his past. Looking at Naruto caused him to feel the heat Kushina's fury and the crushing weight of Minato's disappointment for having kept his distance from their son. He could feel Obito's disgust and his father's shame bearing down on him for failing to uphold his promise. His promise to his sensei that he would protect his family with his life. The promise he had made when he learned that Kushina was carrying Naruto within her womb.

Like Jiraiya, he had neglected his duty to the boy and left him to the mercy of the villagers. Sure he had watched over him as part of his Anbu detail, but once his shift had ended, he was gone. His only interactions with the boy were when he needed to fetch him for the Sandaime. And each time he did have to interact with the boy, no matter how aloof and distant he tried to remain, he found his emotional walls beginning to crumble around him.

So, Kakashi would shut himself away afterward, shunning contact with anyone else as he tried to patch up all the cracks and holes that appeared in his emotional defense. Kakashi had thought that he had been somewhat successful, but now it was clear that he had been losing that battle from the start. Just the knowledge that he would have to interact with Naruto, even as part of a team, was already stirring up emotions that he should not have. Emotions that proved he was already attached despite all his efforts to prevent that bond from forming.

Kakashi opened his eye and looked down at the fuming genin. He was a bit disappointed that none of them had sensed him yet, but it was a category of instruction that the Academy just didn't have time for. If a child displayed natural sensory capabilities, then the Academy assigned someone to try and develop that skill further. The more common forms of sensing, that any shinobi could use, had been sacrificed for Technology classes instead, leaving the Jōnin to train their genin on how to use that skill.

He supposed it was a fair trade off. Sasuke and Naruto both knew a few elemental jutsu already and had been making strides into mastering the elemental control exercises. Naruto being much further along than normal since he needed such advanced control techniques to form a simple Bunshin. Sakura also had the basic Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm) mastered along with first aid skills and a few low-level genjutsu under her belt. All he really needed to do was focus on advanced tactics, survival, and team maneuvers. With some of the Anbu level tactics and techniques that he knew, they would be easily ready to advance to Chūnin in the next exams.

He had six months to whip them into shape and make them a team to be reckoned with. Once their promotions were secured, he could fade into the background and, hopefully, free them from the curse of his existence. Without him in their lives, they would flourish and he could watch from a safe distance as he preferred. Until then, he would just have to come down on them hard and be extra obnoxious so they didn't form any positive attachments to him.

With an acceptable plan in his mind, Kakashi settled back and continued to watch over his future genin team as they began to grumble complaints about his tardiness. Flipping open his latest edition of Icha Icha, the infamously lazy jōnin picked up where he left off and let himself get absorbed into his book. Well, as much as a paranoid shinobi could allow himself to get absorbed into anything, at any rate.

 **With Team 7**

* * *

Naruto sat on the left most stump in the center of the training grounds while waiting for their sensei in the early morning hours. He was tired and a bit grumpy at losing time training the new jutsu the old man had given him, but Iruka-sensei had instructed them to meet at this training ground at this particular time. So, here he was with an even grumpier Sasuke and a surprisingly subdued Sakura.

If Naruto had not recorded Iruka's instructions, he might have questioned himself for getting the time and place wrong, but he _had_ been recording the team assignment day with his datapad for one particular reason.

To record, for posterity, the day he beat Sasuke for 1st place in the combat specialist category.

When Iruka announced that Sasuke had taken 2nd place, the class had erupted into chaos. The surviving fan girls were shouting and berating Iruka and himself since even they knew that none of the other graduates were near his level. Sasuke appeared to be his usual stoic self, but Naruto could tell he was frowning at the results.

As for himself, despite the numerous people shouting and putting him down at the moment, he couldn't keep himself from leaping up onto his desk with his fist raised in the air while releasing a loud cheer with a megawatt smile on his face. He hadn't been trying to rub it into Sasuke's face or anything, but he was just too elated to remain composed. Every time in the past he would get close to claiming the top spot, but Sasuke would always manage to best him on the final exams earning him the 1st place position for the overall year.

Finally! After all those years of hard work and struggle, finally! Even if he didn't get Rookie of the Year, he still felt _vindication_. Now everyone knew that he was strong enough, worthy enough to be looked upon with respect and admiration. That insurmountable goal just became a bit easier and he was one step closer to his dream that lies on the distant horizon of the future.

Naruto glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye when he saw her take out a small dexterity puzzle and begin working on solving it. Ever since she had received her prosthetic limbs, she had been spending most of her allowance on games, puzzles, and tools to increase her cybernetic output and fine motor control.

It had been a sad day for Naruto when he had learned that Sakura had replaced her arms and legs, but he couldn't deny that she had excelled in her taijutsu once she had adjusted to her new limbs. Sakura knew that she would never have the chakra reserves necessary to rely on genjutsu as her primary form of attack, regardless of how much she worked to increase them. So, she augmented her weakness by focusing on taijutsu like Tsunade of the Sannin. This freed her up to conserve her chakra for healing or subtle genjutsu to cover her approach. It also didn't hurt that she had been almost fanatical about cyberization in the first place.

It was only her desire to marry and bear children in the future that prevented her from replacing her body entirely. Naruto had overheard her debating the topic with Ino and a few other girls in class once. Sakura believed that a mother would be somewhat detached from a child they didn't carry within their womb. She believed that feeling that child grow inside of you was the best way to truly bond with a child. Naruto's longing for her only grew with that revelation, but he didn't dare to hope anymore. He wouldn't be able to keep the Kyūbi a secret from her and he didn't want her to fear or hate him like he suspected would happen if she were to learn the truth.

Naruto had not been surprised that Sakura had taken first place in the support category, she was one of the few kunoichi in the class that was serious about her career despite her fangirl tendencies. Her intelligence, strength, and proficiency in both genjutsu, taijutsu, and iryōjutsu gave her an edge over anyone else in that category. Some would call her a jack of all trades, but Sakura was smart enough and had such impeccable control of her chakra that she could excel in multiple fields of study. Only her small chakra reserves restricted her into a support role, but Sakura had no problem with that from what Naruto could tell. It seemed as if she had been leaning towards that role from the very start.

Not even the challenge of molding chakra from an organic core to a prosthetic limb had held her back for very long. That particular hurdle was one of the reasons most shinobi were starting to opt for full body replacements instead of swapping out a few limbs. It wreaked havoc on one's chakra control to go from organic to synthetic chakra pathways without the proper control hardware and software. Technology that was extremely expensive and limited when it came to synthetic limbs but was standard for full prosthetic bodies.

His eyes landed on Sasuke who was leaning up against a tree off to the side of the clearing. His rival was reading a scroll with an impassive expression on his face, but Naruto could tell the Uchiha was just as annoyed with their tardy sensei as he was.

Naruto wasn't surprised that Sasuke took Rookie of the Year for their graduating class. His scores had been more consistent in every category from start to finish. When Naruto was rewarded 1st place combat specialist, however, his raven-haired rival didn't seem too surprised.

Naruto knew he had a bit of an advantage on that front because he had been working on elemental manipulation and chakra control for far longer than any of the other academy students. Otherwise, he would have never mastered the Bunshin technique required to display the fine chakra control needed to start elemental training. Naruto could admit he was lucky that the final year's focus on elemental jutsu and chakra control had given him the edge needed to beat Sasuke.

Without math or history to study, he could put his full focus on improving his technology grades as much as possible. He still fell short of Sasuke on that grade, but he wasn't to bothered by that fact, surprisingly.

Ever since he had that breakdown in the Hokage's office and came to realize the truth of his situation, he found himself more accepting of things in general. In the past he would have mulishly refused to accept the fact that Sasuke had scored consistently near the top of every category; only focusing in on the few subjects where he occasionally topped the Uchiha as evidence that he should be just as qualified for such a designation.

Now he could see things from a more realistic perspective and understand that not everything was a result of that nebulous bias that had plagued him in the past. The bias was still there, for certain, but it no longer seemed so all-encompassing and mysterious. He didn't feel like there was a gloomy cloud bearing down on him while everyone else felt the warmth of the sun. Now he could clearly identify when someone was just hating him for his tenant or were simply annoyed by his miscreant reputation in the past.

Pulling all those pranks certainly hadn't helped his reputation, but it had been the only way he could keep himself sane under the weight of such unrelenting hatred. With that realization, things had gotten a bit better for him. But now he had to deal with the growing resentment and bitterness within him at the simple injustice of it all.

Naruto let his eyes drift back up to the sky as he mulled over the aftermath of learning the reality of his situation and how much he had changed because of it.

After he had woken up in the Hospital, Naruto had tried to barge out of the room and back to the Hokage Tower only to be forced to remain in his room by the Anbu stationed in the hallway. Seeing the Anbu also posted outside of the window made him realize that the old man was really serious this time, so he stayed put, grudgingly. While he was a bit relieved not to have been committed to the asylum for a nervous breakdown, the Hokage had ordered him to remain for observation. From what he managed to find out later, this order was mostly due to his collapse and the subsequent flare of demonic chakra that had been expelled from his body rather than his reaction to the news.

Once the medics had given him the all clear, the Hokage brought him back to his office to interrogate him about what happened when he had blacked out and began leaking demonic chakra in alarming amounts. Naruto had then revealed the depth of his argument with the Kyūbi. Only after several more probing questions from the Hokage, Naruto had grown fed up with the interrogation and began demanding his own answers.

With great reluctance, the Hokage had revealed the rest of the truth about the Kyūbi attack and, more importantly, the truth about his parents.

Naruto wasn't surprised that the old man had been _reluctant_ to reveal anything more to him. His extremely bad reaction to learning about the Kyūbi was more than enough justification to be wary about revealing even more stressful information to him. Yet, Naruto had refused to leave until the old man had revealed everything to him.

The Sandaime had run through the entire night of his birth to the best of his knowledge. His birth location had been classified on the highest level since there was a risk that the Kyūbi would break free while his mother gave birth. Two Anbu teams and a pair of jōnin level midwives were assigned to the birth with no previous knowledge of the birth location until shortly after his mother's water had broken. As far as he had known, everything was going as planned, at least until he heard a deafening roar ring out and was hit with a wave of malevolent chakra he had never felt before.

Hiruzen described how the Kyūbi suddenly appeared out of nowhere as if summoned directly at the gates of the village and began tearing a path of destruction towards the heart of the village. The Sandaime had to muster the initial defense amidst all the confusion because no one knew what had happened to the Yondaime. In truth, the Sandaime had suspected that the Yondaime was dead the minute he saw the Kyūbi appear at the gates. Only after the Kyūbi had been driven out to the very edge of the village did Konoha's Yellow Flash appear, warping the Kyūbi far away from the village.

When Hiruzen had arrived at the location where the Kyūbi had been subdued, his _father_ had already used the  Shiki Fūjin (Reaper Death Seal) to seal away the Kyūbi. His mother had already died by that point, a combination of having the Kyūbi ripped out of her seal and the massive stab wound that she shared with his father. Hiruzen could only deduce that the Kyūbi had tried to eliminate him before the seal took hold and that his father and mother had thrown themselves over him to save his life.

It was then that Hiruzen learned about what happened in the cave with his father's dying breath. That a masked man with a Sharingan had freed the Kyūbi before using his dojutsu to order the kitsune to attack the village on his orders. His father's last words had been to plead with the Sandaime to ensure that Naruto was viewed as a hero for his sacrifice.

Needless to say, the revelation that his _father_ had been the Yondaime had been another earth shattering shock to his system. The man he had come to admire the most had also been the cause of all his suffering.

That storm of emotions that had gripped him when he had first learned about the Kyūbi rose up again, but this time, Naruto had been prepared to maintain a grip on his sanity. He managed to calm himself with the knowledge that his mother and father had _loved_ him; that he wasn't some clanless nobody, and that everything that had endured was truly the fault of the Kyūbi and the man that had set the bijū loose in the village in the first place.

His father, being the Hokage, had no other option to save the village. He was the only Uzumaki child in the village and even if he weren't, his father wasn't the type of person who would ask someone else to sacrifice their child instead of his own. Everyone had pegged his father as a noble and honorable man, even the Iwa ninja that loathed his very existence couldn't dispute that fact.

Just knowing what his father sacrificed in order to seal the Kyūbi was proof enough to him that there was no other choice.

His father had sacrificed his very _soul_ to seal the Kyūbi away into the only place that could keep the fox at bay, his only son. Sure he had some lingering resentment towards his father, but even he knew it was just unreasonable anger at the circumstances he was placed in. It wouldn't change the fact that he admired and looked up to him because he was still his father in the end.

Should have, could have, would have... None of that really mattered at this point. What was done, was done; unless someone invented a time traveling jutsu, there was no way to go back and change everything.

The old man had apologized for revealing the truth about his status as the Kyūbi container to the village. In hindsight, he admitted that he had only made a bad situation worse, but he had only been trying to fulfill his father's dying wish.

How could the villagers see him as a hero if his identity had been concealed?

The only thing he was guilty of was having faith that the villagers would accept the truth and respect the Yondaime's dying wish. Instead of using his vast knowledge and experience to reconsider that decision, he placed his trust in the village he loved. Both his father and the old man had simply underestimated just how strong the grief and anger of the village had been at that moment.

None of them could have realized just how lost to those emotions the villagers had been; that they would disregard the final words of the man they worshiped as a hero in order to satisfy a need for vengeance that could not be sated. They were all powerless to harm the Kyūbi in any way and instead of receiving torment or death, the Kyūbi was simply locked away in their minds.

It had been hard for him to fathom that the Kyūbi was sealed inside of him, and that was with some basic knowledge about how a storage seals worked. For civilians, all they could understand was that the source of all their pain and misery was inside of this little boy.

Even with this knowledge, however, Naruto was still coming to terms with the resentment and bitterness he was feeling towards the villagers, his father, the old man, and just his life in general. He had gone through exercises with a counselor to try and gain a sympathetic view towards the villager's point of view, but he had found that trying to follow their logic in such a way had only made his resentment of them grow. It hurt his brain to accept their idiotic conclusions about why he was a demon and he couldn't help but feel like a simpering, pathetic, weak minded idiot when he listened to the reasons behind their treatment of him.

The only thing that served to squelch that growing darkness in him was the determination to prove that he was better than all of them. To move on past his suppressed hatred for the mistreatment he suffered and prove them all wrong. Lashing out would only justify their idiotic arguments in their idiotic minds so it was pointless to let this hatred in him fester. Instead, he would continue with his goal. He would continue blazing forward on his path to becoming Hokage and forcing them to recognize the truth of who he was.

 **2 Hours 30 Minutes Later**

* * *

Naruto lay sprawled out on the ground utterly bored and a bit fed up with the fact that their sensei _still_ hadn't shown up yet. He wanted to get this meeting over with so he could set his focus onto mastering the different jutsu the old man had given him yesterday after team assignments.

For getting first place, the old man had finally given him free reign to study the Shunshin no Jutsu and the rest of the jutsu scrolls he had recovered from the Old Village a few years ago. He also received two more Fūton and two more Suiton jutsu to work on as well as more advanced chakra manipulation exercises for those elements. Naruto had been particularly interested in the chakra control exercises the Nidaime had taught the old man as a student. If he could manage to eliminate the need for a water source, it would make his jutsu that much deadlier.

The final gift, however, was a list of Bunshin techniques for successfully completing the regular Bunshin _._ After all the hours of struggle and chakra control exercises, he had suffered to successfully complete the useless jutsu. The old man gave him a list of useful clones that he would have little to no problems learning.

Naruto had to admit it was a good gag gift from the old man. Paying him back for all the complaints and paperwork he had made the aged Hokage deal with over the years with his pranks.

Now the useless Bunshin technique he had spent years trying to master (and complaining about quite loudly) would truly be useless. On the list were the Mizu Bunshin, Kage Bunshin, and a few variants of the Kage Bunshin that required infusing them with Doton or Raiton chakra.

The old man had gone on, at length, about the dangers of the Kage Bunshin technique and to avoid trying to infuse elements into those clones until he had all his chakra manipulation exercises mastered completely. Particularly Doton and Raiton, since he was not aligned with those elements naturally. The old man also expressed his hope that Naruto would figure out a way to incorporate Suiton or Fūton into the Kage Bunshin because of his natural affinities and large reserves from the Kyūbi.

For Naruto, he could tell this jutsu would be key for him in advancing in strength. With the Kage Bunshin, he would become strong enough to make everyone respect him. He would grow strong enough to make everyone recognize him for who he was.

Naruto sighed again, gaining an annoyed glare from Sasuke while Sakura continued focusing on her dexterity puzzle. He couldn't read the scrolls from the Hokage around any others since he didn't want the old man getting any more pressure from his advisers or the council on associating with him. He might still partially resent the old man for how his situation turned out, but he could never forget the kindness or care that the Sandaime had given him in spite of everything.

He just needed a bit more time to forgive the old man. Probably after pranking him for failing to mention that his sensei was going to leave them hanging in this training ground for a few hours. Naruto knew that the old man had been smirking for a reason other than giving him the Kage Bunshin scroll, he just hadn't been able to figure out why. Now that he knew, however, he was already plotting how to get his revenge on the cunning old Hokage.

A sudden flare of chakra caught his attention, and he narrowed his eyes on the man who suddenly appeared in front of them. That spiked up silver hair and nonchalant posture was far too similar to be a coincidence. His sensei had to be Inu. The one Anbu that always managed to sneak up on him and scare the living daylights out of him just when he thought he had gotten away clean.

Naruto knew the Anbu were a step above most of the shinobi, but the other operatives were always straight forward with him. They would appear right in front of him, state their intentions before snatching him up, and depositing him in the Hokage's office without so much as a peep.

Inu, however, made it a habit of sneaking up on him and scaring the living daylights out of him. It was like the man just knew when he relaxed his guard so that he could pop out of thin air and cause him to jump out of his skin in shock. Inu was also the only one who would actually speak to him more than any others, however, but it was always in that bored, unimpressed tone of voice that annoyed Naruto to no end.

So, to say that Naruto was wary would be an understatement. Mentally, he was releasing a stream of curses knowing just how much of a pain in the ass this was going to be with Inu as his sensei. Here he had been concerned about getting a sensei who was amongst the group of idiots who was biased against him, but Naruto should have known that the old man wouldn't have made such a mistake.

Naruto stood up and made his way over to Sakura who had risen as soon as Kakashi had appeared before them. Sasuke positioned himself on her right, while Naruto fell in on her left; a throwback to their first time as a team together in the Academy. All three of them were glaring at Kakashi who seemed more focused on his book than on them. He didn't even seem to acknowledge their presence for several minutes before Sakura decided to say something.

"Um, excuse me, are you the sensei for Team 7?" Sakura said in a polite tone.

Kakashi only turned a page and continued reading.

"Oi! Mutt face, don't just ignore Sakura like that!" Naruto shouted indignantly.

"Mah, Mah, Naruto, that's not very nice," Kakashi said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "I just find this paragraph to be far more interesting than the three of you."

Sasuke gave Kakashi a glare and a huff, just looking at the man made it seem impossible that he had graduated the Academy and advanced through the ranks as quickly as his perfect brother.

His father had plenty of negative things to say about Kakashi Hatake, mainly that he was the son of a disgraced failure and nothing more than a common thief, but Itachi had espoused Kakashi's known genius and talent; citing his nearly flawless record in Anbu and his previous training under the Yondaime as examples of his skill.

"Naruto, you know this guy?" Sakura whispered.

"Yea. You could say that I am familiar with him. I wouldn't say that I know him all that well, though." Naruto said softly.

Kakashi snapped his book shut seeing that his genin were now properly riled up.

"Okay, my cute little genin, it's time to see how much knowledge you retained from you last two years at the Academy," Kakashi said with a cheery tone. "First off, I know you three were paired together for a quarter so let's test how much you know about each other, shall we?"

Kakashi pointed to Sasuke who subconsciously straightened himself up and tilted his chin up as if preparing for a direct challenge.

"Let's start with mini-Itachi over there. Tell me three things about little pinky here that doesn't involve her skill set or abilities. Go." Kakashi said.

Sasuke growled a bit at the nickname before his brow furrowed in thought.

"Her favorite color is red, she knows how to cook, and she likes sweets?" Sasuke said with a bit of uncertainty.

Kakashi looked over at Sakura to confirm his answers only to be disappointed to see her clasping her hands over her chest with stars in her eyes.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! You remembered all that about me!" Sakura said dreamily.

'Great the notes about her being a fangirl are quite justified. She doesn't even realize that he only pointed out the most obvious and superficial things or that he was even guessing at them..' Kakashi thought to himself.

Naruto let out a disgruntled huff but otherwise remained silent. Those were hardly the best attributes about Sakura, but she wouldn't appreciate him trying to show up Sasuke in front of their sensei.

"I guess that means the Uchiha is actually capable of observation without having his Sharingan active." Kakashi drawled in a bored tone earning a glare from Sasuke and Sakura while Naruto merely chuckled.

"Moving on. I have the same question for you, Sakura, but about little fishcake here."

"Oi! I'm not little!" Naruto shouted but Kakashi merely waved him off.

"Talk to me when you grow five more inches." Kakashi retorted before looking at Sakura. "Well?"

"Umm..." Sakura placed a finger over her lips as she tried to think about anything about Naruto that wasn't related to his skills or abilities.

"I know that he likes orange, very bright and... vibrant shades of orange." Sakura with a false laugh, "Um, he is always shou- er declaring his love of Ramen, and his dream is to become Hokage." Sakura concluded.

Naruto looked away to hide the blush on his cheeks. While it wasn't anything he hadn't declared publicly more than once, it was more than he had expected her to remember about him.

"Now it's your turn Naruto. Tell me three things about Sasuke that have nothing to do with his skills or abilities." Kakashi asked.

"He is always eating tomatoes and onigiri, always; it's like he can't eat anything else," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head in thought. "He hates being compared to his brother all the time, and he works hard to be just like the rest of the stuck up, arrogant pricks in his clan," Naruto concluded with a smirk towards Sasuke.

"Idiot." Sasuke retorted; a bit put off by the fact that Naruto had been able to perceive two of his sore spots.

Kakashi merely hummed in acknowledgment before he turned back to Sasuke. "And what would you point out about Naruto?"

"He's self-conscious about the fact that he doesn't have any cybernetics, He is so far beneath anyone's notice that he goes out of his way to attract attention to himself, and he is willing to do almost anything to try and prove he isn't insignificant," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Naruto only scowled in response. Nothing Sasuke said was false, it was just slanted to make him look worse.

"How interesting," Kakashi said in a bored tone. "It seems that at least Sasuke and Naruto are capable of understanding one another to some extent. Pinky here is too caught up in the superficial to see the reality of things. Which is probably the reason why Sasuke has no respect for you at all." Kakashi added with a loaded glance at Sakura.

"But sensei, you didn't ask me to mention anything about Sasuke. I am certain I can list more about him than Naruto and you didn't ask Naruto to say anything about me." Sakura asked.

 **'Lazy perverted bastard says I'm superficial!? At least I'm not hiding behind a mask! If he challenges me to list off Sasuke's best attributes I'll put him in his place. Shannaro!'** Inner Sakura rambled.

"I don't need to ask you about Sasuke, Sakura. It is obvious you are blinded by your infatuation with him." Kakashi retorted. "If you want to prove me wrong, then list three faults about Sasuke that have nothing to do with his skills or talents or else I'll fail you right now and call up one of the reserve genin to take your place."

Sakura deflated at that challenge. She couldn't fail here in front of Sasuke but if she put him down, he might view her badly. In the end, she decided it would be better to pass and ask for his forgiveness later. It's not like she had managed to get any closer to her first love despite all her efforts. So, the only direction she could go was up. As she ran through Sasuke's personality in her mind using logic, not love, she found it surprisingly easy to point out his more problematic behavior.

"Sasuke-kun focuses too much on training and gaining strength which makes him tense and stressed all the time. If he doesn't learn to relax, the pressure might become too much for him." Sakura said while sending an uneasy glance at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked nonchalant, but his brow was a bit more furrowed than usual.

"Okay. I'll accept that one." Kakashi said. "Continue."

"Sometimes he lets his pride get in the way. If he accepted help from others more often he would be able to succeed with less struggle." Sakura said quietly.

"And?" Kakashi prodded.

Sakura sighed "Well, Sasuke-kun can be quite mean and nasty to people he doesn't respect very well." Sakura said sadly as she recalled all the times he had put her down quite thoroughly. "It wouldn't hurt him to be more polite to people who aren't as strong as him since they could become useful or stronger in the future."

"I'm impressed. I didn't think you would be able to list anything concrete but those are actually valid faults that Sasuke could improve on." Kakashi said in a slightly impressed tone.

Sasuke merely scowled at her before huffing and looking away.

"Now, you mentioned that I didn't ask Naruto to mention anything positive about you in particular, but I can tell by just looking at him that he wouldn't find it hard to answer that question," Kakashi said with a knowing glance. "I can also bet that he would be able to list three faults of yours quite easily."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and looked away as Sakura turned her gaze onto him.

The last thing he wanted to do was point out her flaws. While it was nice to see her put Sasuke in his place, Naruto didn't feel that Sakura really needed to be put in hers after what Kakashi had put her through. He could tell she had felt bad to say such things about Sasuke, even if they were true.

"I would like to hear that," Sakura said making Naruto's heart sink.

"Why not?" Kakashi said curiously. "Naruto, if you would?"

Naruto sighed. He knew it wasn't really a request so he kicked the grass petulantly before responding.

"I would say that the best attributes about Sakura are that she is highly intelligent and learns quickly. She always acts confident and she is passionate about what she cares about." Naruto said as he looked at Sakura.

"As for the faults, I would say that she has a tendency to lose her temper quickly, she worries about what others think about her too much, and that she is slow to apply the knowledge she has learned if the situation doesn't match the training scenario exactly." Naruto blurted out quickly before looking away. When Sakura didn't reply he risked glancing back at her only to see her staring at him with a strange expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't want to make you feel bad." Naruto said softly.

"You don't need to apologize to her, Naruto-kun, you were being honest," Kakashi said in a chastising tone.

"What about Naruto's flaws then?" Sasuke spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.

"Oh? What about them?" Kakashi asked him.

"That's easy," Sasuke said with a snort. "He's loud, obnoxious, and he's heavily biased against people with cybernetics."

"I suppose that is true. Obvious, but true." Kakashi hummed.

"Anyways, are we going to do this team test sometime today?" Naruto grumbled sourly.

"Who says we haven't been doing the test already?" Kakashi mused.

"Really? We are just going to answer a bunch of questions about each other?" Sasuke said in disbelief.

"Well, in the past I would have done a test to ensure you were capable of working as a team. With the changes to the Academy, you have already been trained to work as a cohesive group with a majority of your class. If you hadn't learned how to work as a team in the past two years, you wouldn't have graduated so that test is now moot." Kakashi explained.

"If you knew we were capable of working together, why would you ask us these kinds of questions?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face.

"I wanted to gauge how perceptive your group was and how you interacted with each other on a personal level," Kakashi said with a shrug. "Just because you were trained to work as a team doesn't mean you would be truly effective as a team. I needed to see if your team had what it took to surpass those limitations the Academy has placed on you."

"What kind of limitations?" Naruto asked suspiciously. Even Sasuke couldn't hide his interest at the question.

"That is the question you need to answer as a team if you want to pass my test," Kakashi said seriously before he pulled a cluster of bells out.

"After evaluating your questions, I have placed some limitations on what you can do during the course of this test," Kakashi said as he jingled the bells. "First I will explain the rules, then I will explain the limitations. You will have a limited amount of time to pass this test, and if you do not meet all of the requirements to pass, I will simply replace you with a reserve genin."

Kakashi pulled out an alarm and set it on the three training stumps before continuing with the explanation. "The rules are that you must keep your bell on you at all times. If you lose your bell, you fail the test. If you try to hide the bell or conceal the bell anywhere but on your person, you will fail the test." Kakashi said before he handed each of the genin a bell.

"You will have two hours to keep your bell safe from yours truly," Kakashi said with an eye smile. "Now for the restrictions," Kakashi said with a cheery tone before looking at Sakura.

"Sakura, you will have to keep your bell clearly visible at all times. That means that you are unable to hide at all. You can move and fight back but other than that, you must remain within this clearing at all times." Kakashi said before turning his gaze to Sasuke.

Sakura looked nervous at her restrictions. How the hell was she going to keep a Jōnin at bay for two hours when she couldn't even hide or delay him at all? With no other choice but to keep her bell visible, she opted to place it somewhere that she could easily protect. Using the thread that the bell was attached to, she threaded through one of the cloth loops on the collar of her cheongsam before fixing it in a simple slip knot. The bell dangled down over her right breast making a faded tinkling sound.

'At least the bell isn't very loud.' she thought sourly.

"Sasuke. Since you failed one of the questions I posed to you and were snide when answering your second question, the restrictions I place on you is that you must keep Sakura within your line of sight at all times." Kakashi stated. "You can hide or conceal your bell or yourself within the rules of this exam, but besides the time needed to blink, you must keep Sakura within your field of view until time is up. Second, you must keep Naruto out of your line of sight at all times. If Naruto remains within your field of view for over 30 seconds, you will fail."

Sasuke's lips thinned as he began trying to form a strategy with his hands practically tied behind his back. Keeping Sakura in his line of sight would be annoying, and keeping Naruto out of his sight would be just as difficult. Despite Naruto's best efforts, Sasuke was well aware of his crush on Sakura. If he couldn't keep Naruto away from Sakura, he would fail. At the same time, if he left Sakura on her own, she would never survive. While that wouldn't really affect him too greatly, most of the kunoichi in the Academy had been quite pitiful, except for Sakura.

As annoying as Sakura was when she fawned over him, at least she was dedicated and skilled. The fact that she replaced perfectly healthy body parts to gain combat level prosthesis was proof enough to him, no matter how foolish he thought it was. There was no guarantee that a reserve kunoichi would be just as capable or dedicated as she was. If they had been, they wouldn't have been placed on a reserve team.

Sasuke turned his attention to his bell. Someone as reportedly skilled as Kakashi would be easily able to pick their pouches and holsters in the midst of combat, but putting it someplace as simple as his pockets would be just as risky. Sasuke tested how loud the bell was by shaking it a little and found it wasn't too noticeable. He would tuck it away into his arm warmer once the test started and he was positive he had gotten out of Kakashi's sight.

"Naruto. You must remain within 30 meters of Sasuke at all times. You are only allowed a leeway of 30 seconds if he moves out of your range. If you move out of his range, however, you will fail instantly." Kakashi said before moving back to lean on the stumps as he fiddled with the timer. "You can also hide or conceal your bell within the parameters of this test."

Naruto fidgeted a bit nervously as he tried to process just how he was going to pass this test while being tethered to Sasuke. 30M gave him a good amount of breathing room but he couldn't help but worry about Sakura. Leaving her alone and exposed was just out of the question for him.

Naruto wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke left Sakura to fend for herself, to be honest. Unless specifically required or ordered to, the Uchiha always did things on his own because he didn't want to be "held back". He could only hope that the restriction Kakashi placed on Sasuke forced him to remain close enough so that if Sakura was attacked, he could move in and help her. The only problem with that, however, is that if he did aid Sakura, he would be forcing Sasuke to fail. Even if Sasuke was an arrogant jerk most of the time, he didn't want to be responsible for making him fail.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke and almost laughed at the pinched expression on his face. Maybe appealing to his pride and arrogance would be the best method of making Sasuke help Sakura. Even if their team isn't finalized until they gain Kakashi's approval, she was still assigned to their team. If she died, it would be like "his" team failing. For Sasuke, Naruto knew that was unacceptable in his eyes. When the exam started, he would have to try and convince Sasuke to help her.

Naruto stared at the bell in his hand. He was tempted to simply put it into his pocket but he knew from experience it wouldn't be safe there from Kakashi. In fact, there weren't that many places he could hide the bell on himself that Kakashi wouldn't be able to easily access. He would have to hide it somewhere that would be easy for him to defend but completely unexpected. Suddenly, he had an idea, he could keep the bell in his hand underneath his glove. It would be safe in his fist, the sound would be suppressed, and it wouldn't be easy for Kakashi to sneak it out of his grip.

"I will give you 10 minutes to prepare without your restrictions before the two-hour time limit starts. After that, I will pursue you relentlessly because the last thing I want to do is babysit a bunch of pathetic weaklings for the next six months." Kakashi said coldly. "If you don't fight me with intent to kill, you will not survive this test and I will send you all back to Academy in disgrace."

The trio of genin tensed as Kakashi placed the timer down. His finger hung over the button for a moment before he pressed it down while declaring. "Time starts, Now!"

Immediately, Sasuke took off out of the clearing towards the cover of trees in the distance. Naruto tossed Sakura a forlorn look before following quickly after him, staying in the flanking position so he could remain in Sasuke's blind spot. With no real option but to follow, Sakura took off after Sasuke as fast as she could, stopping at the very edge of the clearing that he vanished into along with Naruto.

Kakashi watched as the trio moved to create as much distance as possible from him. Inwardly he wondered just how the group would deal with the challenges he placed before them. He had intentionally chosen restrictions based on the flaws in their responses.

Sakura's was quite obvious. She was far too concerned about the superficial instead of trying to read further into things. It was the main reason why she couldn't adapt to deviations from normal, like Naruto so aptly pointed out. When she saw the letters A and B she automatically thought C, so when Y appeared instead, she was thrown off. Instead of seeing Y and thinking Z, she would go back to study A and B expecting to find X so that she could justify the appearance of Y instead of adjusting her logic to adapt to the pattern.

Making her remain exposed in the clearing with her bell clearly visible should be enough to emphasize how dangerous it is to focus only on what is "apparent". The feeling of exposure should drive home the fact that anything with intelligence would seek to conceal their vulnerabilities or use deception to mask them in some way. It would force her to realize that reality didn't bend or fit her logic like the virtual one, something Kakashi had seen occurring more and more as the children became more indoctrinated by the technology around them.

For Sasuke, his tendency to ignore those as beneath him and focus only on those who he considered worthy was a major problem. Not only for his own sake but for the sake of the village and it's reputation. Too many young Uchiha died or were drummed out of the Shinobi Corps. because of that typical inflated arrogance and self-worth, that served as a mask for their own sense of inferiority.

Forcing him to focus on Sakura should make him realize that even those he considered beneath him could dominate and control a situation and that he might not be able to do a damn thing about it. No matter what he did in this scenario, the girl he viewed with contempt and dismissed as irrelevant was the key to his success or disgrace. And Kakashi knew that for an Uchiha, disgrace wasn't an option in their minds. He would be forced to place more value in Sakura regardless of his opinion in order to complete the mission.

It was also Kakashi's subtle way of testing just how much Sasuke subscribed to his clan's beliefs instead of the Will of Fire that the teachers in the Academy tried to foster. Most Uchiha in this situation would leave Sakura to her fate; opting to shore up their own defenses and defend their bell so that they could succeed. Theoretically, Sasuke could still do that with this scenario. He could just sit by and watch as Sakura fought and lost her bell without ever putting his own chances at success in risk.

That was where Naruto would come in, of course. The blond serving as a lesson in just how powerless you are to control any situation despite how powerful or skilled you were. Naruto was the embodiment of unpredictability and an icon of just how writing someone off because of face value was a flawed way of thinking.

While Naruto's presence should have reinforced the fact that you can't always see the true value or strength of a person based on a few interactions, Kakashi was certain that Sasuke had pegged him as an anomaly or a unique circumstance with his faulty Uchiha logic. What Sasuke needed to realize was that there were many people like Naruto out in the world and most of them were far more subtle than the rambunctious blond. Threats that the Uchiha, in their arrogance, tended to forget when they unlocked their Sharingan.

The best way to drill that belief home was before Sasuke unlocked his dojutsu. If he came to accept that lesson beforehand, it would always cross his mind each time a new challenge or opponent appeared before him. It would force him to ask himself "What is it that I am not seeing with these eyes?" instead of believing that his Sharingan revealed all; like most Uchiha claimed.

As for Naruto, this scenario would serve to temper his overconfidence and brash nature by placing him in a lose-lose situation. Naruto would have to choose between the metaphorical death of Sakura or Sasuke. Without Sasuke's help, he would never be able to help Sakura and keep Sasuke "alive" and if he did stick with his objective as mission parameters dictated, he would have to watch as the girl he, obviously, cared for "died" in front of him. It would also serve to open Naruto up to asking for help from others instead of trying to do everything on his own to prove his worth.

Kakashi knew that Naruto barely trusted anyone and for all his efforts in the Academy, the only real reason the boy worked with anyone was because it was necessary for him to succeed. Naruto may act social and welcoming- if not a bit overbearing at times- in his quest to gain recognition, but deep down the boy had been conditioned by the villagers to focus solely on himself.

Being ostracized and scorned as he was, Naruto's mind had been conditioned to disregard anything that could impact others. Even when he was pulling pranks on people, the aftermath was primarily focused on internal reactions (being noticed, the exhilaration of being chased, revenge) rather than external reactions (his reputation, how the villagers would react, the consequences he would face). While that didn't mean Naruto himself was selfish, his mind simply didn't calculate how his actions would affect those around him because he had no real socialization skills.

For Naruto, it was like everyone else just disappeared when the heat was on, and once the danger or challenge had passed his mind finally registered that there was another person standing next to him. Even most of his team reports in the Academy had noted that most of the time, Naruto had focused more on carrying his own weight than working closely with others. Not that he was entirely to blame for that situation since a good portion of the students had forced him to behave in such a way.

If it weren't for the final two years of the Academy forcing him to work with teams, Kakashi was certain that Naruto would be far more loud, brash, and reckless than he was now. Kakashi could see a 12-year-old Naruto still rocking his hideous orange track suit trying to bull rush him for one of the bells. So caught up in trying to pass the test on his goal to become Hokage, he wouldn't even consider the fact that he stood no chance against someone he knew was an Anbu operative. If Sasuke or Sakura were on his mind at all, which Kakashi doubted, it would only be because he wanted to show up his rival while impressing the girl he had a crush on.

Kakashi repressed a shudder as his mind wandered down that alternate reality.

A Team 7 where Sasuke viewed his teammates as worthless and beneath his notice only working with them through coercion or force. His only motivation and focus going into a single-minded goal that he was willing to do _anything_ to accomplish.

Where Naruto's recklessness and brash nature would only grow as he constantly tried to make Sasuke and Sakura accept him. His stubbornness and impulsive nature strangulating any potential to learn because he simply refused to accept guidance from others unless he deemed it valuable or exciting.

Where Sakura would be to blinded to reality by her infatuation with Sasuke only to take out all her frustrations on Naruto when her insecurities could no longer be disregarded or ignored entirely. Her failure to perceive reality would render her less than mediocre until her teammates lay battered and dying in front of her while her life hung in the balance.

It would have taken months of teamwork drills and possibly a life or death situation before they would be able to marginally work together; only for them to fall apart as soon as the team failed to overcome an insurmountable challenge or opponent. Kami, Kakashi wouldn't have been surprised if it required one of them dying to get their acts together in the first place.

Kakashi feigned ignorance as he detected Sakura put up a genjutsu around her to try and conceal her movements. If Kakashi had to guess, Sakura was going to try and surround herself with defensive traps in the hopes of funneling him into a certain area of attack. A smart move when faced with a situation where you had no choice to remain idle. Unfortunately, without the right support, it was doomed to fail nine times out of ten when facing a superior opponent.

He couldn't detect Sasuke or Naruto with basic sensory skills, so that was a positive note. His hidden clones had remained undetected by them all and if a single rule was broken, they would move in and render the violator unconscious. He had been somewhat surprised when Naruto had followed after Sasuke without a word. Kakashi was certain he would have put up more of a fuss to make Sasuke aid Sakura. Perhaps the blond was actually smart enough to play to Sasuke's weaknesses and use his pride and arrogance against him. It was one of the reasons Kakashi had made them announce their flaws. Gauging their knowledge of each other had actually been the secondary focus. An advanced team would identify each other's weaknesses and cover them with their strengths.

As soon as the grace period expired, Kakashi began strolling towards Sakura in a casual manner. His book was still held aloft as if here were totally relaxed and focused on reading, but his senses were on high alert. Sure he was cheating a bit, using Chūnin level detection methods, but that just made things more interesting for him. If the Hokage questioned him about it, then he would just claim he was using those talents to analyze his genin team's movements.

It wasn't like he needed to go all out to make them fail if he felt like it. The last time he had done that, it truly had been necessary.

The trio of genin he was assigned to test three years ago were all a bunch of arrogant, pathetic, weaklings that weren't worth his time or effort at all. So, he demolished them in record time before sending them back to Academy with a strong recommendation that they be removed from the program entirely. Last he heard only one of them made it onto the reserve forces while the other two washed out. The Hokage had been _displeased_ , to say the least, and had doubled his time guarding Naruto with a reduction in pay.

Kakashi neared Sakura's genjutsu field and studied it carefully for a minute before removing the first layer.

'A triple layer illusion.' he thought with some admiration. 'All low level but they are fairly seamless. I know quite a few Chūnin that would easily fall for this.'

He strolled forward into the trap field with a bored expression fixed on his face, intentionally tripping the first few wires to see what kind of traps Sakura had set up.

The kunai launcher and the pit trap were not a surprise to him; being very basic and quick to set up in a pinch. Especially if you had a dual Doton, Suiton nature like Sakura had. He casually dodged the kunai before leaping over the pit and flicking a kunai of his own into the trees. Seeing the tied up log only confirmed his suspicions. She had used a basic dual layer trap to conceal the tertiary trap. What he wasn't expecting, however, was her aggressive charge that followed after he had dismantled the trap.

"Shannaro!" she cried before laying into him with a fully charged overhead cross to his solar plexus. Kakashi quickly used Kawarimi to replace himself with the log he had dislodged from the trap. Had she not put her full cybernetic output behind that attack, he could have been able to simply parry and dodge her strikes in his usual lazy manner. Fortunately, he had noticed her muscles straining as she redirected the tensile strength from her other arm and both leg muscles to increase her cybernetic output beyond its limits. The short burst of chakra he detected only reinforced the belief that avoiding the strike was the smart move on his part. Combining both the cybernetic redirection and chakra manipulation into a single attack was a feat he didn't think was possible for someone with cybernetic limbs alone. She must have also replaced her spine and nervous system as well.

Sadly, the end result of such a technique is a temporary weakening of the limbs she had drawn that extra power from. For that reason alone, it was never recommended to use such a technique unless you had an absolute certainty that your opponent wouldn't be able to evade the attack.

Real shinobi (and kunoichi) knew better than to believe in absolute certainties.

Kakashi wasn't surprised when she collapsed to her knees afterward while breathing heavily. The way the log had _shattered_ under the force of her attack only reinforced his suspicions. She had vastly overpowered that attack in the belief that she had him dead to rights. A deadly assumption to make when using an attack that left you vulnerable afterward.

"That was an excellent move there, pinky. Too bad it was a completely foolish and wasted effort," Kakashi said in a lazy tone before moving in to knock her out.

Kakashi's senses flared in time for him to leap back and avoid the lightning-laced jet of water that raced out of the woods. Before he could land from his evasive maneuver, he was set upon by Sasuke who appeared behind him with a chokuto in his hand. The Uchiha was quick to begin launching a series of attacks at him with his sword, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow at how there was no hesitation behind each attack.

At least the Uchiha was taking things seriously, but Kakashi wasn't certain if that was a good or bad thing yet.

Behind the Uchiha, Kakashi could see Naruto flipping through hand seals to prepare another jutsu. If Sasuke had been more skilled with his blade, that would have been a big problem for him. Sadly, the raven wasn't as skilled at kenjutsu as Kakashi had expected. The silver haired shinobi was able to duck and evade most of Sasuke's attacks with ease. Kakashi had expected the boy to be, at least, mid to high genin level in kenjutsu based on the Academy reports. At the moment, Kakashi would barely peg him as a mid level genin in sword skills.

Growing bored with evading the slashes and strikes being sent his way, Kakashi went on the offensive. He sent Sasuke flying back with a fierce thrust kick when the raven extended himself on a horizontal slash. Just as he was about to charge in and disarm the Uchiha, however, Naruto released his jutsu to drive him off.

Kakashi was surprised at the speed at which Naruto managed to complete his jutsu. He had recognized the jutsu that the blond was using and expected to have more time to close the distance with Sasuke and force Naruto to cancel his jutsu. Apparently, the blond had a much better mastery of Suiton than stated on the Academy reports. Judging by the size of the volley Naruto created with Suiton: Mizu Shuriken he either had an extremely strong affinity or the brat had been secretly training in advanced elemental manipulation exercises.

Most people could only generate two handfuls of the water projectiles at once, but Naruto had managed to create _five_ before the jutsu failed. If Kakashi had to guess, Naruto's vast chakra reserves had allowed him to keep the jutsu powered for much longer than normal. The jutsu probably only collapsed because his control had eventually faltered at the end, forcing the jutsu to collapse. At least, that is what he suspected based on the amount of water dripping from the blond's hands at the moment. Still, it was _impressive_ for a genin to create so many water shuriken from that jutsu; especially ones that were actually dangerously sharp.

Kakashi put away his precious Icha Icha and decided to take them a bit more seriously when he saw Sasuke sending hand signals to Sakura. Pulling out two kunai, he prepared for their assault with a bit of excitement.

Their formation was a modified version of the "missing man" formation taught in basic training for Anbu. While the basic formation was the same, the movements and action points had been simplified before they were introduced into the Academy. He had to admit that it was clever of them to use this particular formation because it turned Sakura's vulnerability into a strong point. Without the formation, her restricted movement had been the easiest weakness for him to exploit. All he would need to do was put pressure on her to leave the restricted area and the test was over.

Now, however, she was forming the wall or hard point in the formation. Sasuke and Naruto would pressure him into her range with mid and long ranged attacks, driving him into close range where the pinkette's strongest attacks were focused. Sakura would always remain in Sasuke's sight because the formation demanded the two close to mid-ranged specialists to keep their target between each other at a slight angle while the long ranged specialist used the flanking position to prevent him from breaking their formation.

It was like forming a very skinny triangle with the mid and close range fighters forming the base and the long ranged fighter forming the point. The enemy would be pressured to remain near the base by the point position, which was Naruto in this case. Naruto would have far more maneuverability with this formation, making it easier for him to remain out of Sasuke's sight. In order to maintain the formation and apply the proper pressure on him, Naruto would be forced to remain within 30m of Sasuke or risk allowing the enemy an avenue of escape.

Overall it was a brilliant adaptation of a tactic designed for a different situation. It was also a clear indication that, with the proper motivation, Sasuke was more than capable of taking up the leadership role for the team. Kakashi made a mental note to himself to force more situations like these to see if Sakura or Naruto were capable of rising to the occasion. While he was certain all three of them were capable of becoming leaders, Kakashi wouldn't waste his time on training the others if they didn't bother stepping up. Some people were just made to be followers after all.

Now it was time to test how proficient they were with this formation before utterly shattering it along with their pride and confidence.

First, he would try a few of the simple counters that Anbu used against that formation. Then he would slowly step it up to see how they adjusted to the pressure. He might even cheat a little and use a higher level of skill against them, just to see how good they really were. The Hokage might be _displeased_ with him again, but the usual form of punishment for annoying the old Sarutobi would no longer be valid. He was already going to be forced into watching over Naruto now that he was the blond's sensei. Not only did he have to spend more time with the emotional wall wrecker, but he would have to do it while dealing with a broody Uchiha and a borderline fangirl as well.

Kakashi spun on his heel and charged at Sakura in a burst of speed. Sakura rapidly flipped through hand seals while Naruto tried to slow him down with a volley of shuriken. Kakashi ignored the projectiles, knowing they were only a distraction and continued his charge. He could feel Sasuke closing the distance as he neared Sakura, but he wouldn't make it in time. The bigger question was, would Sakura finish her jutsu in time?

He felt himself get staggered by Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm), which successfully slowed him down enough for Sakura to fumble her last hand seal and raise a Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to halt his charge. As soon as the wall rose, he heard Sasuke call out Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) from behind him. Trusting his instincts, Kakashi quickly threw a kunai towards Naruto to cancel his Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) before it could power up Sasuke's attack. He began quickly flipping through hand seals of his own while Sasuke recovered and Naruto evaded his kunai before scurrying out of Sasuke's line of sight. If he hadn't been able to read Sasuke's hand signs to Sakura, that combination might have caught him off guard, but they had failed to conceal their signals completely.

A rookie mistake, even for a genin.

With a blur of speed, he managed to raise his own mud wall to block Sasuke's attack before flipping through a few more hand seals to burrow underground using Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu).

Kakashi moved to pull Sakura underground but was forced to back off when she cratered the ground beneath her feet with a prosthetic-enhanced punch. He rose up from the ground slightly behind Sasuke to try and force him to turn his gaze away from Sakura or eliminate him outright, but Naruto had been prepared for his appearance.

Kakashi wasn't certain if it was luck or recklessness on Naruto's part, but the blond gave little to no warning to his teammates before his Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) ripped through the area.

Kakashi only had time to cling to the ground with chakra to avoid being sent flying by the attack.

Sasuke had either been warned or anticipated the attack because Kakashi saw him off to the side before the main gust of wind struck him. Either he had replaced himself or had managed to dive out of the way before being caught up in the jutsu.

He had sensed a chakra flare behind him before the wind struck him so he was assuming that Sakura had formed another wall of mud to weather the attack.

As the gust of wind began to die down, Kakashi was quick to retaliate. Using Shunshin (Body Flicker) he closed the gap with Naruto and began testing the blond's taijutsu. While it wasn't terrible, it obviously wasn't his strong suit either as he was quickly being driven back and overwhelmed. Kakashi knew that Sasuke wouldn't have time to take the pressure off of Naruto without breaking his own restrictions, and Sakura was too far away to offer any assistance.

Kakashi smiled to himself when he parried a right hook from Naruto and heard the muffled tingling of his bell. It was a clever hiding spot, he would admit, but not good enough. Kakashi seized his arm quickly before he could retract it and moved to claim Naruto's bell to try and eliminate him from the test. Naruto lashed out with a thrust kick towards his abdomen, which Kakashi pivoted away from, before following up with a falling roundhouse kick. Kakashi was forced to release one of his hands to block the kick instead of ripping off Naruto's glove. With his strong hand occupied, Naruto used his legs to push off of Kakashi, utilizing his weight and gravity to break the grip of his left hand, allowing Naruto to fall to the ground before his bell was lost. Kakashi lashed out with a kick while Naruto tried to recover, but, as expected, Naruto had taken the opportunity to use Kawarimi to appear next to Sasuke.

Kakashi looked at the trio of Genin with some amusement.

Sasuke could only look at him out of the corner of his eye because of where Sakura was located. His face was expressionless but his body was relaxed. It was apparent the Uchiha thought he had this test in the bag. Kakashi would have to take his arrogance down a bit, he would never let some foolish genin believe he was even close to his level. That was how genin ended up dead, fast.

Naruto had apparently taken to the trees to remain out of Sasuke's line of sight and was looking at him with a scowl on his face. Not hiding how he felt in the least, but that didn't surprise Kakashi at all. Naruto had always had problems hiding his feelings when you managed to set him off. Kakashi also knew that Naruto was fully aware that he was toying with them all. If Naruto really wanted him to get serious, then he decided he should oblige him.

Sakura looked frustrated, which was understandable. Kakashi was certain she believed she hadn't done nearly enough to prove herself in this test. She was probably smart enough to know that he hadn't put much effort into claiming their bells and was probably berating herself for being trapped in such a vulnerable position. Hopefully, this would teach her to squelch those fangirl tendencies even further and pay more attention to other people.

Kakashi gave them all an eye smile and a lazy wave before disappearing in a Shunshin. It was time to show them just how far apart they were from him in terms of skill.

He struck at Sasuke first, using a genjutsu to distract Naruto long enough to drive the Uchiha away from Sakura with a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. As soon as Sasuke replaced himself, Kakashi ambushed him, using a wrist lock to disarm his sword before sending him flying with a side kick. Naruto had managed to recover from the genjutsu at that point and began sending more water shuriken and regular shuriken to relieve the pressure off of Sasuke, but by then it had been too late.

"Looks like the Uchiha is out of the game. You lost sight of Sakura for too long." Kakashi said in a mocking tone before knocking Sasuke out with a pressure point on his neck. He commanded one of his observation clones to pick up Sasuke and take him back to the original meeting point.

"Shit." he heard Naruto say before the blond fled back towards Sakura.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Kakashi said when he appeared before Naruto in a Shunshin while wagging a finger side to side. "Who said your restriction no longer applies if Sasuke had been eliminated?"

"What?!" Naruto shouted indignantly.

"Ut oh, you only have 15 seconds to track down my clone before you get eliminated," Kakashi said in an amused tone.

Naruto let out a string of curses as he turned back and tried to race after the Raiton Kage Bunshin that had taken Sasuke back to the clearing. He would lead Naruto on a merry goose chase while removing Sakura from the test next. He should have made his clone Henge into a child, just so that Naruto would know how it felt to have to waste his time chasing an annoying brat all day.

Kakashi observed Sakura closely for a few minutes before planning his approach. He could tell that Sakura was beside herself with nervousness and concern for Sasuke. If he had to guess, she was promising not to forgive herself for putting Sasuke in such a predicament. Never mind the fact that Sasuke's own actions had been the cause of his restrictions. Kakashi shook his head in embarrassment.

This was going to be too easy.

He created two clones and Henged them into Naruto and Sasuke. He made certain that he got a few details wrong about Naruto's outfit while ensuring that Sasuke's outfit was an exact copy. He sent the clones bursting into clearing while fighting off the third clone of his to increase the tension of the moment. His clone managed to "knock out" the Naruto clone before being dispelled by the Sasuke clone.

"Eya! Your so amazing Sasuke-kun!" she cheered, not caring in the slightest that Naruto had been eliminated or injured.

It appeared she still hadn't learned her lesson. It was time that she learn a very painful one or else she was a danger to this team.

The Sasuke clone advanced on her and Kakashi could literally see her heart in her eyes as she clutched her hands to her chest and the blush on her face grew.

"Sakura. Are you alright." "Sasuke," asked.

"I am now that you have saved me Sasuke-kun!" she tittered. "Together we can win this test. Together we can do anything," she said with a dreamy sigh.

"Sasuke" leaned in closer making her blush spread from her cheeks to the rest of her face.

"I was a fool to deny you in the past, Sakura, but no longer." he said before bring his hand up to trace her cheek.

Sakura closed her eyes at the sensation and leaned forward with her lips puckered ready to accept the kiss of her dreams. Instead, she felt a tugging on her shirt and the cold steel of a kunai being held against her throat. Opening her eyes in shock she saw "Sasuke" with a smirk on his face dangling her bell in front of her face. Behind her was Kakashi pressing the kunai into her jugular vein. If she so much as blinked the wrong way, she was dead.

"Congratulations, your foolish infatuation with your teammate had just gotten you raped and murdered for your efforts," Kakashi said pointedly. "If you're lucky the enemy shinobi will grow tired of gang raping you after a few days and will slit your throat to end your misery." He tugged her hair a bit sharply to ensure she was listening to him closely instead of mourning over the loss of gaining a kiss from her crush. Believe it or not, some fangirls he had flunked out would actually think something that stupid instead of realizing they had just fallen into a trap.

Kakashi let his voice grow more menacing as he whispered harshly in her ear. "Sadly that isn't the case for most kunoichi who fall for such a stupid and obvious trap like you did. Real shinobi have no respect for foolish fangirls and love making them suffer. They like to give girls like you to those really sadistic bastards with dangerous fetishes in order to keep them sated so they don't take out their fantasies on innocent civilians or fellow kunoichi. Kumo especially likes to gather up all their fangirls and make them watch some depraved bastard get his rocks off so that they learn just what happens to foolish, useless kunoichi like yourself. And the few that are rescued from such a fate, and I mean _very few_ as in one out of ten, they all beg for death because you can't even begin to imagine just how twisted and depraved some of those sick bastards are."

Kakashi let her drop after he was done with his speech. It was harsh and fucked up, but necessary. Perhaps he was a bit pissed that she had so easily ignored Naruto being defeated in front of her. He couldn't help but think the worst of her, that she wouldn't have cared had he been a real enemy and Naruto lie bleeding out or dying on the ground. The Hokage might disapprove, but no one could deny that her behavior was extremely dangerous. For herself and her team.

He would not let this simpering bitch stand by and let Naruto waste his life for her just so that she can continue with her useless fawning over the Uchiha. Kakashi knew that Naruto was the type that would be willing to throw himself in front of her, even if he didn't have a crush on her. He was far too much like his father in that respect. If Naruto was to waste his life on her, she better damn well earn it.

Sasuke would never do such a thing for her, not in this life or the next because he deemed her as useless. He might do something like that for Naruto because he respected Naruto and recognized him as useful, but Kakashi could tell that Sasuke would only see her as a necessary sacrifice until she managed to save herself and gain respect in his eyes.

That would never happen if she continued to act like a useless fangirl around him.

Sakura had fallen to her knees sobbing as she hugged herself. Kakashi could only hope that message had gotten through to her before it was too late.

"Get up and return to the center stumps, your test is over," Kakashi said coldly before walking away.

He strolled back towards the center stumps where his clone had already deposited the unconscious Uchiha. Naruto was already sitting on top of one of the stumps with his arms crossed over his chest and a vicious scowl on his face.

"From that expression on your face, I take it you realized you had been chasing a fake this whole time," Kakashi said in that tone of voice that he knew aggravated Naruto.

"Yea, yea," Naruto said with a huff. "Payback is a bitch, mutt face," he muttered.

"Is that so?" Kakashi said with a hum. "By my count, I still have plenty of payback to return to you for all those times I had to chase you into the Old Village when I had better things to do. Just think of all the embarrassing and disgusting things I can make you do as your sensei."

Naruto snapped his gaze back over to Kakashi with a nervous expression on his face.

"Hey I haven't done anything like that for some time and besides you never fell for any of those traps so why don't we just call it even," Naruto said with a nervous laugh as he scratched the back of his head.

"I might consider it, but you would have to pass this test first," Kakashi said in a bored tone. "Which you haven't succeeded in doing since you had been so easily fooled by my clone."

Naruto slumped over depressed while muttering to himself.

When Sakura neared the stumps she simply slid down one of them before clutching her knees to her chest. She was still was still crying but it was much softer that before.

"Oi! Sakura, what's wrong?" Naruto ran up to her and began to reach out but stopped himself. He whirled around and glowered at Kakashi before yelling. "What the hell did you do to her mutt face!"

"It's nothing Naruto." Sakura shook her head but kept her face buried. "I just failed badly. It was all my fault." Sakura said between sniffles.

"Hey, it couldn't have been that bad!" Naruto said encouragingly. "I was chasing a fake around like an idiot. I didn't even realize that I had failed until way afterward and this bastard here barely lasted a minute against mutt face."

"Just shut up, Naruto. You have no idea how badly I failed." Sakura snapped as she raised her head to glare at him. "Just, just leave me alone, please," she added in a softer tone before burying her head in her knees again.

Naruto stood up with a dejected expression on his face as he took up his previous position on top of the furthest stump.

Kakashi sighed to himself before flipping through hand seals for a low powered Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet). He shot the small jet of water at Sasuke to wake him up.

Sasuke flailed about as the spray continued to hit him in the face before he shot up to his feet. Taking a note of his surroundings he saw the dejected look on Naruto's face and saw Sakura looking defeated as well. Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth he shot a glare towards Naruto and Sakura before looking down at his own fist as it shook in rage.

"You have all failed to keep your bells safe or have failed because you broke the restrictions I have placed on you," Kakashi announced with authority. "Now, because you three managed to impress me somewhat with your team work I will give you one last chance to earn your place on this team."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at him with determination while Sakura looked hopeful.

"Tell me, Sakura, why you failed," Kakashi asked.

Sakura remained silent for a moment as she studied her feet before looking back up to answer.

"I failed because I didn't pay attention to all the details. Because you had all the details accurate on Sasuke-kun, I ignored the differences on Naruto's clone or that he had been apparently eliminated from the test. I ignored the fact that despite us three attacking you at once, we never really landed a hit on you yet the Sasuke clone you made was fighting you to a standstill." Sakura said quietly.

Naruto looked away to hide the pained expression on his face. It hurt knowing that she didn't even care for him as a teammate. That she really had thrown him aside completely to chase after Sasuke.

"Tell me, Sasuke, why you failed," Kakashi asked.

Sasuke scowled at the term "failed" but managed to reign in his anger and disappointment to think everything through.

"I failed because of the restrictions placed on me," Sasuke said shortly.

Kakashi narrowed his eye at Sasuke before asking. "And why did you have those restrictions place on you in the first place."

"Because I failed to see the value that both of my teammates could provide. When you began to pressure me I tried to prove myself to you one on one instead of immediately falling back when Naruto provided me an opportunity to back off." Sasuke admitted with bitterness.

Kakashi nodded in response before turning his gaze to Naruto.

Naruto released a sigh before looking up at Kakashi.

"I failed because I put more importance on helping Sakura instead of sticking with Sasuke. I should have tried to help Sasuke until the very end because Sakura wasn't the one in danger at the moment." Naruto replied.

"Good, you three both learned the lesson I tried to teach you," Kakashi said approvingly.

"As a team you can't place one person's life over the other. You can't view one person as lower or less than another. The second you begin to rank or rate your team members in order of importance is the second your team fails. In a combat situation that failure will result in death or worse." Kakashi said sternly. "The only time you can rise up and defeat those beyond your level is to work together flawlessly, to trust each other unequivocally, to know precisely how you move, think, and react."

"As genin you are the smallest fish in the pond. Everyone else is a bigger fish that is out to eat you, so you have no choice but to work together until you grow big enough, strong enough to start standing on your own and can leave the pond to face the ocean. But never forget that there is always a bigger fish. There is always someone who will be far beyond your level because very few rise to the top. Do you understand? Kakashi asked.

Sasuke nodded while Naruto and Sakura both replied, "Yes."

"Good. Then I will give you all a chance to prove it." Kakashi said before adding a dramatic pause. "As of this moment I declare Team 7 active. As long as you remember what you learned today, I will help you improve yourselves. Be prepared for hell for I will put you through training that would make Anbu candidate beg for their mothers. So, you better give me everything you have because I won't waste my knowledge on you if you don't." Kakashi said coldly. "I will cut you from the team and find someone who is willing to accept my knowledge gratefully. Believe me, when I say there is a very long list of qualified genin and chūnin who would kill someone to take your spot."

"Yes, sensei." Team 7 replied in unison.

"Good. Training starts tomorrow at 8am sharp. Don't be late." Kakashi said before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The trio of genin didn't even bother with celebrating their success, they had far too much to take into consideration. What should have been a happy moment was only a somber one, highlighted by the flaws and failures that had been so thoroughly exposed.

* * *

Sakura was reconsidering her feelings and goals in life. She had put far too much time and investment into becoming a kunoichi to change her mind now, but now she had to wonder if it had all been worth it. Her singular purpose was to prove herself a strong and capable kunoichi capable of marrying a strong and capable shinobi. Part of that goal had been driven by her own desires but another part had also been driven by her own parents.

Her mother and father had struggled to pay for her enhancements and, she had learned only recently, that they had timed her birth to coincide with the rest of the clan heirs in Konoha. Her mother claimed it was just to ensure that she had the best potential teammates for success, but now she was starting to realize that wasn't entirely true. Sakura knew that her mother only wanted the best for her, so it was no surprise to her when she had encouraged this crush on Sasuke.

Her mother had fostered that behavior in her, encouraged her to drop her friendship with Ino to become rivals in love for Sasuke. She had strongly emphasized focusing more on her skills and talents as a kunoichi to attract his attention while still maintaining her beauty and feminine form as much as possible. She had even encouraged her to drop her blooming friendship with Naruto in favor of earning Sasuke's approval.

Now she had seen that all of her efforts had been pointless because Sasuke didn't care about any of it. She had been too blind to realize that the only thing that mattered to Sasuke was gaining the acceptance and recognition from his clan. The only way to do that was to gain what the Uchiha clan coveted most, power.

While she was strong and talented, she wasn't nearly on the same level as Sasuke. In fact, if it wasn't for her replacing her body parts with prosthesis, she would be leagues behind him and Naruto. The only one who really was capable of challenging him was Naruto who had no enhancements, whatsoever. That was why Sasuke recognized Naruto and accepted him because he displayed strength and power without the need for augmentation. He pushed Sasuke to his limits, helping him grow strong enough to gain what he wanted most, acceptance from his clan.

She had so foolishly ignored the fact that he had been looked down on a belittled by his clan for needing prosthetic limbs. While she was a fan of cybernetics and had no problem with full or partial prosthetic bodies, Sasuke had no choice and his clan viewed them as a sign of weakness. Here she had been thinking that replacing her limbs with prosthetic ones would allow her to relate to him on some level.

Kami she had been such an idiot.

It took today's exercise to realize the reality of her situation. Sasuke viewed her as a mere annoyance at best and a burden at worst. Even though she had truly been serious about becoming a kunoichi, she had put too much emphasis on trying to attract his attention when he hadn't been interested in anyone. That had become clear when she looked back on the Academy days without her jaded crush blinding her. Ino, herself, all the other girls that swarmed him and swooned over him had never gotten more than a cold shoulder, a cold stare of contempt, and even an occasional insulting rant that they merely shrugged off. She might as well have insulted him to his face at that point. Even when he had been clear about how annoying and idiotic she had been and she just brushed it off as him being stressed or blaming Naruto for pissing him off by defeating him in a spar.

Kakashi had brought things into perspective for her now. What mattered was her career first. She was going to become a kunoichi because she really and truly did want to become one. If she managed to attract Sasuke's attention along the way, that would only be a bonus in her mind. Not a goal. Besides, she deserved more from a relationship than being chosen because she was first place. She deserved to be loved and cherished in return for her own faithful devotion. If Sasuke didn't show interest in her, wouldn't view her as an equal or respect her for her talents and skills as a kunoichi and a woman, then she wouldn't bother to chase after him anymore. She needed to focus on what was more important now. Right now she needed to get strong enough to survive and avoid that horrid fate Kakashi-sensei had painted for her.

Maybe once she reached Jōnin, she would start worrying about love.

* * *

For Naruto, he was stubbornly determined to prove to that mutt faced bastard that he wasn't going to back down on anything. He would take everything that he threw at him and more.

He wasn't going to change who he was just because everyone else told him to. Sure he should and would listen to advice on how to improve himself. He was young and had hardly any guidance in his life so he knew there was plenty of room for improvement. Yet, he wouldn't stop caring for people or trying to find the best in them just because it made things more difficult for him. He could still care for Sakura, despite her disdain for him apparently. He would not put less value on her life just so that asshole Sasuke could live. Sasuke could take care of himself more than Sakura ever could. If any of them needed help, he would give it to them, gladly. Yet, he also knew that Sasuke wouldn't really appreciate that help. With Sasuke, all he needed to do was give him a little bit of time or a small opening and the bastard would take full advantage of it.

Sakura wasn't weak but she was limited in her options and Sasuke wouldn't lift a finger to help her. It fell onto him to protect her because he would be damned before he stood by and watched as she was hurt or slain. While Sakura might not ever love him for it, she would, at the very least, be grateful for it. To him, it was enough to know that she was safe and happy.

He wouldn't deny that it hurt knowing that his chances of finding a woman to love were slim if not non-existent entirely. As long as they all viewed him as a naturalist freak or demon reborn, he would always be alone. Even after gaining their acceptance and respect it might be possible that he would never find a woman willing to embrace those aspects of himself.

He had seen plenty of older shinobi that had never found love. Too caught up in advancing their careers that time had slipped by and soon it was too late for them to start a family. Maybe too many kunoichi had burned them in the past that they would never allow themselves to trust another woman. After all to love a woman was to expose all your vulnerabilities to her. If too many women had tried to end him with a kunai in the midst of intimacy he might have problems trusting them as well.

What was more likely was that he would end up like one of those shinobi who had lost their love to death or another shinobi. Unable to move on from what they lost, they simply fulfilled themselves in duty until their end finally came. Hoping that they would get their chance in the next life.

Once more Naruto wished that he could just turn off his emotions at times like this. It would be so much easier to focus on his goals and grow stronger instead of being weighed down by all the negative feelings that had built up inside of him. The depression, anger, bitterness, pain, and loneliness that tried to drag him down; emotions that tried to distract him from his goals and sabotaged his ability to find true happiness. Naruto remembered the tales about Root shinobi being trained to forgo all emotions entirely and wondered if it was truly as bad as the old man had painted it.

Sure there were good emotions. The fleeting moments of happiness he did have in his life were treasured memories that were _almost_ worth all the pain he had suffered. It was why he maintained his cheerful and happy nature as much as he could, so he wouldn't drown under that unyielding weight of loneliness and hatred.

It was so much easier to be happy. Even people that despised you for no reason typically behaved in a more positive manner when they were surrounded by happy people. If more of those bastards had found happiness, they might stop treating him like a plague on the village and move on with their lives.

Naruto did his best to remain happy and carefree because it was the best way to show that those idiots hadn't succeeded in defeating him. If he lost his original personality he was admitting defeat. If he gave up on his happiness then he was letting those idiots drag him down into their miserable existence because they wanted him to live a life of misery and suffering like they did. And if there was one thing Naruto refused to do it was to lose himself to those emotions like those pathetic weaklings. By remaining happy, by remaining _himself_ it was like spitting in the faces of those morons who tried to make his life miserable. Because those selfish bastards couldn't move on and let go of their misplaced grief they wanted everyone else to suffer along with them. By remaining steadfast in his beliefs and fighting to remain himself, he was proving to everyone that those idiots were all wrong about him. It was proof that he was _not_ what they labeled him, but what he made himself despite their efforts to keep him down.

So no matter what that bastard Inu threw at him, he would laugh and take it. He would use it to grow stronger, better, faster and he would rise up above it all and prove he was a better person.

* * *

Sasuke trudged his way back home lost in thought. He hadn't realized just how much of a gap there was between him and a jōnin level shinobi until today. With the extended training and advanced classes in the Academy, he thought that gap would have been much less. It was a startling wake up call just how pathetic the Academy had truly been before the changes and just how much of a prodigy Itachi had been to graduate and advance as fast as he had.

For Sasuke, it was a bitter pill to swallow but it changed his view on things immensely.

His brother had constantly disputed his father on how to gain strength. Every time his father told him one way to gain power, his brother countered with a completely different point of view. For the first time in his life, Sasuke was truly questioning his father's beliefs and motivation.

His father had claimed that true strength could only come from gaining power on your own. That relying on others to grow stronger and improve yourself was a sign of weakness and made you unworthy of the Uchiha name. Yet, after today's test, Sasuke realized how fundamentally wrong that belief actually was. That his brother had been right when he tried to guide him down a different path to power. A path that had you relying on friends and colleagues that you could trust and rely on. That having bonds with people only made you stronger, not weaker.

Before they were Shinobi students, they were children that had to be trained by someone. Someone had to teach them the very basics in order for them to pass the acceptance test into the Academy, even if it was pathetically easy. After that, they studied and learned under the guidance of the instructors and maybe their family or clan members if they had them. Once they graduated they were all Genin under a Jōnin sensei who taught them how to work together and how to survive. The Jōnin sensei guided them until they were strong enough to enter the Chūnin exams as a _team_. Even if they did pass the Chūnin exams, they were still often paired with their former teammates or with new ones if they weren't guiding and leading Genin on missions. This remained true until they reached the rank of Jōnin. Yet, even as Jōnin they would still have to work with other Jōnin or even Chūnin unless they decided to take a Genin team or advance into Anbu. He also couldn't forget that the elite of the elite. Even though the black ops organization was mysterious and secretive, there were still common facts that everyone knew. Everyone knew that it was rare for an Anbu to operate on their own. Sure there were missions where one Anbu was enough to complete the task, but for the most part, they were known for working with tight knit four-man cells that were heavily dependent on trust and reliance upon each other. Everyone knew that if you saw one Anbu that only meant that there was, at least, one that you couldn't see in the immediate area.

So Sasuke couldn't help but wonder why his father had told him he could only grow stronger if he stood on his own? Why would he encourage him to isolate himself and struggle to prove his worth without help from anyone? Did his father truly want him to succeed or was he hoping that Sasuke failed and ended up dying in the field so that the "stain" on his honor could be erased?

Sasuke couldn't help but think such suspicious thoughts when he constantly heard the whispering throughout the compound about him being a symbol of his father's weakness. He still recalled the insults, the taunts, the sneers and contempt that were thrown at his mother and father as they prepared to enter the proving grounds. He could still recall the resounding silence and disgruntled whispering that trickled through the crowd when both his father and mother had defeated and/or killed their detractors. The women who sought to remove his mother so they could seduce his father and take her position as the top female just so they could poison him and his brother and replace them with their own children. The men who sought to kill his father so they could wipe out his entire family and take their place as the most powerful family in the clan so they could lord it over everyone else. So that they could enjoy watching the rest of the clan grumble and curse them while they were forced to grovel before them on their knees.

It was the first time that Sasuke fully understood why Itachi had been so disgusted with the clan. Why his oldest brother, who had been hailed and worshiped as the prime example of an Uchiha, despised the very clan that practically kissed his feet. Now he fully understood why his brother had called them vultures and vermin because they truly were shameless, opportunistic, and nasty individuals who would do anything for power and would throw anyone to the wolves just to keep that power.

Why else did they force him to constantly struggle and prove himself time and time again? Why else did they look down on him even though he had managed to prove himself to be one of the best of his age despite the massive disadvantage he had? Why else did they jeer at him and sniff at him like a pack of ravenous jackals when none of them had been forced to overcome the hurdles and obstacles that he had?

Because they were jealous of the fact that he had managed to succeed where they would have likely failed or had been killed off as a child. He knew that if his parents hadn't fought off those fucking vultures, he would have likely been "purged" from the clan. He had never seen it happen personally but there were enough "disappearances" that were whispered about in secret. There were enough kids that mysteriously vanished whose families never spoke about them again. He hadn't really thought much of it before because his father had simply chalked it up to "the weak falling prey to the strong, as they should."

Sasuke shook his head at himself as he decided to take the long route home and simply walk. His mother and brother had teased him about this particular hobby of his but there was just something about walking that calmed him and allowed him to think straight. Sometimes it was nice to simply walk a slow pace and observe everything around you. And right now, he really needed that calm.

He needed that peace because he was finally seeing how much of a blind idiot he had been. How he had been too prideful and arrogant to see the truth of just how foul his clan really was. It was a painful realization because he truly did love his family. Even his asshole father held a place in his heart and deep down, he wanted to gain his father's acceptance. But now he realized that it was pretty much impossible with how his clan operated. Even if his father truly did love him on some level, even if he wanted to be proud of him, the vultures would never allow it. They would constantly challenge him, never giving him peace until they managed to get their way.

Until his clan was freed from their bloated sense of entitlement and arrogance that came from their twisted traditions, they would always be under attack. It was stupid because they were falling behind all the other clans when it came to strength and technology.

Sure Naruto had managed to match him and even best him when it came to certain things but it wasn't that long ago that he was the norm. Less than ten years ago, Naruto would have been just another student who was average or above average in skill. Now, however, the future was in cybernetics. Even if he had required cybernetics in order to become a shinobi, there were plenty of other shinobi who were surpassing their limits and even the limits set by their ancestors because of cybernetics. There were advancements in prosthetic limbs and bodies that would have required decades of training and hard work for people to accomplish and many of those people would have never been capable of reaching those levels because of their own limitation.

Most of the clans were embracing technology in some way. Only the Akimichi and the Inuzuka were downright against augmentation because their clan jutsu didn't work as effectively with any prosthetic limbs. In the Inuzuka's case, cyberization interfered with their instinctual bonds with their ninken and was incompatible with their feralistic jutsu. However, Sasuke was starting to believe that only time was needed to solve those problems.

The Hyūga Clan, which had been known for being more hidebound and arrogant than any other clan, had worked out some deal with Kyokutō corporation that eliminated the need for the Caged Bird Seal completely. He didn't know all the specifics but he had overheard Hinata speaking about her operation with her friends. She had mentioned that nanites were installed to secure her eyes in case they were removed. If someone tried to implant her eyes into someone else, somehow the nanites would identify that the body was foreign and respond by attacking the optical nerves and brain of the person they were implanted into. There were also implants to control fertility so that the dojutsu couldn't be stolen through more nefarious means. He didn't know how but Hinata had simply said if the attempted to remove the implants or force themselves on a Hyūga, the results would end in failure.

Not only did the nanites secure the Byakugan bloodline, but they also reduced the amount of chakra necessary to keep the dojutsu active while increasing the effective range. Hinata had boasted that her effective range had increased by 20 m and she could now keep her Byakugan active for an hour longer. With training, those benefits would only become stronger, allowing her to exceed any limit she might have run into before she had the operation done.

In the past, Sasuke knew he would have looked upon such news as a sign that the Byakugan was weak and flawed. That the Hyūga clan was foolish for requiring such a crutch to succeed because he held the same mindset as his father. Now he couldn't help but wonder how much more powerful the Sharingan could be if they had worked with Kyokutō corporation like the Hyūga did.

Hinata had even mentioned that the corporation had given them a large sum of money and economic incentives in their corporation while also paying for the costs that would arise from the entire clan undergoing the procedure. All that was required was that the Caged Bird Seal be removed once the procedure was completed. The corporation had been willing to go to such lengths simply because they viewed the Caged Bird Seal as nothing less than slavery.

Sasuke could only wonder what kind of benefits his clan could receive if they had approached Kyokutō on friendlier terms then eliminating a slave seal. Everyone knew how powerful and versatile the Sharingan was, he was certain that the scientists would jump at the opportunity to study their eyes while finding a way to secure and augment them in some way.

Right now there was nothing protecting the Sharingan from other users. All a thief needed was enough chakra and a halfway decent medic in order to harvest their precious dojutsu. Kakashi was the perfect example of someone who had adjusted to the use of the Sharingan with ease and it was a major source of contention with his clan. If the lazy bastard decided to approach the corporation, who knows what kind of secrets they could learn from him?

If they had embraced technology instead of spurning it, who knows what they could do to protect their eyes?

Who knows what new levels of power could be attained if the Sharingan was augmented with technology?

Sasuke sighed as his mind drifted back to a topic he could do something about. It wouldn't do him any good to dream about the things he clan may or may not do while it was currently infested with the power hungry vultures that only cared what position they were on the internal pecking order.

No. All he could do is worry about himself and how far he had set himself back by listening to his father's flawed idealism. He couldn't forget just how foolish he had been to ignore Itachi's advice all this time when he could have been improving himself. He could have been so much stronger than he was now if he had just listened and then none of those vultures would have been able to harass his family any longer.

He also couldn't forget the fact that Kakashi had forced him to watch Sakura as a lesson and when he viewed Sakura as a burden, then she became one. When he utilized her as an asset, focused on her talents and strengths instead of her weaknesses, she became useful. When he tried to go his own way, to do things on his own he had failed badly. He had only lasted as long as he had because Naruto had been there, in the shadows, to save his ass but that still hadn't been enough. If Sakura had been in the picture, he would have survived the exchange. With Naruto's help, Sakura would have given him more openings to evade, to counter. With Sakura's help, Naruto would have more openings to launch his jutsu. While that happened they were both covering his vulnerable spots. They were both giving him opportunities whether or not he deemed them worthy of his eyes or not.

Now it made sense to him why Kakashi had restricted him in such a way. To look upon what you think is weak and find the value or strength it held and to realize that it would always have some value, some strength that you could draw upon or learn from.

It also forced him to remember that just because you couldn't see something or decided not to view something as worthy, didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. That to write something off or ignore it as beneath your notice was foolish and risky. Even though he couldn't see Naruto during that whole fight, he could never rule him out of it. Naruto represented the silent threat, the hidden danger that arrogance and pride blinded you too. Sasuke knew Naruto was dangerous and strong, but when it came time to face an enemy, letting his pride or arrogance write them off was a foolish mistake to make.

A mistake that was all too common for an Uchiha.

Sasuke picked up his pace in order to make it home before dinner. This time, he would seek approval in the eyes of those who truly mattered. In the eyes of his mother and brother who had already accepted him for who he was in the first place.


	6. Beta v1,4

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking**

 _ _ **Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts**__

 _Mental Communications_

[Chat Box/Text communication]

A/N: Only a few more chapters remain before the main story starts. To cut down on the confusion, I have come up with a different naming scheme for the Intro Arc.

Edit 9/21 Fixed an error in the Shinobi bracket

 **Beta v.1.4**

 **January 18** **th** **, 2248**

 **Chūnin Exams Stage 2 - Poseidon Global Dome - Amegakure**

* * *

A large, covered stadium is slowly filling with spectators for the first multinational event in the history of Ame. The massive LED screens switched between various different corporate ads before focusing back on the center of the arena where the day's entertainment would soon be provided. Standing in the center of the massive arena are 78 prospective Genin who are seeking to advance to the Finals in order to prove their worth to advance to the rank of Chūnin.

Naruto looked around in awe at the size and technology that was flaunted in this state of the art Arena. In his 15 years of life he had never seen anything so grand or flashy with his own eyes. Even the pictures he had looked up on LATTICE couldn't do the arena justice.

The glass dome held lights almost as bright as the sun while also keeping the perpetual rain from falling on the heads of the spectators and contestants alike. The rainwater was being filtered and funneled through various fountains, waterfalls, and water sculptures that decorated the concessions stands, waiting areas, and staircases that led to the different seating sections the massive stadium was divided into.

While the Tobirama Arena in Konoha was fairly large, it was only half the size of the PoseiDome (as the locals had dubbed it). Naruto didn't think there were enough people living in Ame to fill the place, let alone justify the costs for such a large and elaborate building. In fact, Ame had been extremely isolationist and hostile for most of its history. The small nation had the unfortunate luck to be located between three of the five major villages who had been at each other's throats for over a century. It was only in the last 15 years that Suna had agreed to a tentative alliance with Konoha. While Iwa wanted nothing more than to wipe Konoha off the map for good, the devastation wreaked by the Yondaime in the Third Shinobi War had crippled Iwa so badly that they could barely man enough people to secure their own territory.

In fact, a few lesser territories had broken free of Tsuchi no Kuni and established their own villages since Iwa could no longer use force to reign them in.

Because Ame's location and proximity to Konoha, Iwa, and Suna, it had been viewed as a convenient battleground at first. A place where your armies could go all out without villages and farmlands in their own territory suffering from the fallout or devastation associated with that level of destruction. At least, until Ame decided that they weren't too pleased with that idea and began to fight back with guerrilla tactics to drive the foreigners out of their land. The Ame ninja were so effective with their tactics that they had inadvertently doomed their land to be plagued by further wars. The "big five" planned battles within their borders in order to take advantage of those talents to try and lure their opponent into a quagmire they could use to their advantage.

This practice continued until Hanzō the Salamander's rise to power shortly before the Second Shinobi War.

With a massive recruitment drive and ruthless training fueled by a population fed up and raving mad over the loss of lives and homes, Ame's shinobi army swelled in the blink of an eye. With Hanzō's cunning and an overwhelming show of force, Ame devastated all the armies battling in and around their borders as soon as the Second War broke out. Afterward, the nation took up an isolationist policy cutting off all diplomatic ties with the nations around them and heavily fortifying their borders to prevent any post-war skirmishes or grudge matches taking place within their country. As a result, Ame remained untouched during the Third Shinobi War, forcing most of the battles to be fought in neighboring Kusa, Taki, and Kawa no Kuni instead.

It was only because of Hanzō's immense strength and sharp intellect that Ame remained independent to this day, a testament to his strength and fortitude. To push back the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three) of Konoha, The Bakuha Butai (Explosion Corps) of Iwa, and even the Kugutsu Butai (Puppet Brigade) of Suna when you were outnumbered and being besieged on all sides was a feat few could manage and it was no surprise that Ame had remained free and unmolested by foreign influence once the dust from the Second War had settled.

Oddly enough it had been the Derumo Cybernetics company that had managed to penetrate the insular nation and get them to start opening up to establishing trade and relations with other nations. Ame still remained strictly neutral in all affairs, but now the water-logged country was accepting imports while exporting the wide variety of fish, aquaculture technology, and even plumbing and water management techniques they had developed to deal with the endless rainfall that plagued their country.

Rumor had it that there was even a deal between Suna and Ame to create a pipeline to direct the massive rainfall towards the desert nation. The amount of estimated rainfall that fell on a yearly basis only to be redirected into lakes, swamps, or the ocean would be more than enough to change the landscape of the arid village if managed properly.

Kakashi sat with the other Jōnin instructors in their assigned section with a deceptively bored expression on his face. In reality, he was gauging the competition _his_ little genin would be soon facing. Assessing the other teams based on their posture, the posture of the sensei within the J _ō_ nin box, and any signs of specialization based on equipment or weaponry that he could pick up at a glance.

From what he had seen so far, his team had a good chance to shine in this exam. The only thing that could really be held against them was their overall mission experience but Kakashi had faith they would be able to overcome that point against them. By showing smart tactics and the capability to back them up with more than enough strength, they would prove their worth.

Ever since that first team test and the harsh wake-up call he had given them, Kakashi had been pleased to see the improvement on his team. While they hadn't formed as tight of a bond with each other as he had hoped, they still worked well together and looked out for each other in combat situations like any well-oiled team should. Their skills had also increased dramatically as he had opted to focus more on training while taking only short term missions to ensure that they still met the requirements to attend the Chūnin exams.

While their mission experience was the least of any of the other genin teams from Konoha, Kakashi had drilled them in scenarios that were common for B and A ranked missions to make up for that lack of practical experience. While even he would admit it wasn't the same as having true field experience, the way that Team 7 operated on all the C-ranks they had completed up to this point proved they were, at the very least, capable of withstanding anything at that level. They also had a perfect mission record to date, unlike their comrades, so that was a bonus point in their favor when it came time for the evaluation.

Kakashi's eye roamed over the rest of the candidates until reaching the teams from Konoha. While Team Gai could present a real challenge to his genin, Kakashi still felt certain that Team 7 would prevail against them. It would certainly be an interesting match, almost worth the incessant challenges he would receive from Gai should his team win as he expected.

Team 8 was too much of a specialist team to offer much of a threat. While Shino's kikaichū could present a challenge, if they had been unfamiliar with how to deal with them, he had made certain that wouldn't be a problem for his genin. The Inuzuka and the Hyūga just weren't at the same level as his team. He knew this because he had watched them all before they left for the exams. They would be eliminated quite quickly.

Team 10 might be a problem since it was a team elimination event, but Kakashi had prepared his team for every kind of scenario. If they succeeded in eliminating Shikamaru off the bat, Team 10 would fall apart faster than a house of cards in a windstorm. Not to mention that Ino's ace was useless against two out of three of his genin. It could be a problem if she chose to dive into Naruto's mind but that would simply have to be dealt with at a later time.

As his eyes landed on his genin, Kakashi couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in how well they had developed. As a team, they were starting to come together nicely. With enough time and experience, he was certain that very tentative bond they had now would only grow into something more profound. In his eye, he could see the next iteration of the Legendary Sannin, if Konoha finally managed to kill Orochimaru and claim his contract of course.

After the test, Sasuke had shelved his arrogant nature and had focused on training. He actively began working with Naruto and Sakura, bouncing ideas and techniques off of them. It had been a bit awkward for the Uchiha at first, but with Sakura no longer fawning over him and Naruto becoming increasingly more calm and respectful, Sasuke began to open up a lot more. He was still stoic and indifferent at best, but he was no longer outright dismissive or cold to his team. Sometimes Sasuke and Naruto still got into it like they did in the Academy, but it was no longer as heated as before. With no more insecurities and misunderstandings to fuel them into going overboard, their competition was more like a healthy rivalry. They still weren't friends with each other but Sasuke no longer avoided hanging out with them if it wasn't required. The three of them could be seen plotting revenge against Kakashi (particularly how to remove his mask in public) over lunch or during one of their days off.

They hadn't managed to succeed yet, despite Naruto's best efforts.

Sasuke had finally managed to unlock his Sharingan during a C-ranked mission that involved a few missing-nin. They had been recent additions to the bandit camp they had been instructed to remove from the border of Hi no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni. The Tani shinobi hadn't been much higher than mid chūnin rank, but they had been smart enough not to reveal themselves until he had moved away from his genin to cut off a large group of reinforcements.

Sasuke had been heavily engaged by a trio of regular bandits before the shinobi decided to use the bandits as cover for their combination attack. Sasuke had been unable to avoid the attack or escape because he had already used his Kawarimi earlier and was not trapped on all sides. The lightning-laced water jet had been only a few feet away from striking Sasuke before Naruto and Sakura had managed to divert the attack with a clever combination of Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) and Doton: Iwadeppō (Rock Gun). The wind from Naruto's attack not only dispersed the lightning in the water, but it propelled the expanding boulder through the water jet and took out one of the shinobi along with a trio of the bandits that had been hemming Sasuke in.

After that little hiccup, however, everything went smoothly. Sasuke managed to finish off the other ninja that had almost ended him. With his Sharingan now fully manifested, Sasuke became more at ease around Naruto and Sakura. His new found determination to follow in his brother's footsteps and spurn his father's advice had done wonders to his attitude. There were times he was still jealous of Naruto's own advancement because of the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) training exploit, but Naruto had actually been able to quell most of that negativity by sharing a few of his jutsu that Sasuke had been interested in. In exchange, Sasuke had requested a few Fūton jutsu that Itachi had copied from a group of Suna ninjas.

Kakashi's eye moved onto Sakura and he couldn't help but eye smile in response to her wave towards him.

Sakura had been improving by leaps and bounds as well. While her genjutsu hadn't advanced as much as he would like, her taijutsu was growing even more powerful every day. By mastering her cybernetic output along with controlled bursts of chakra, she had effectively managed to replicate Tsunade's own style while adding a bit more speed and flexibility to her range of motion. She had also been developing her own style of taijutsu instead of relying on the Academy version with the help of both Naruto and, surprisingly, Sasuke as well.

While her focus had mainly been on increasing her overall stamina, speed, and chakra reserves for the past six months, the most surprising area of growth had been her ninjutsu. Sakura had managed to master two Suiton, three Doton, and a Katon jutsu to try and give herself more flexibility. While her reserves were still considered below average for most kunoichi, her control allowed her to squeeze out a few extra jutsu before her reserves were shot.

On their first C-ranked mission, they had faced off against a genin team from Kumo who was tasked with stealing a scroll from a traveling merchant Team 7 had been assigned to protect. When the Jōnin instructor of the Kumo team pointed out her taijutsu specialty, Sakura had felt like a burden once more. Her genjutsu had been easily detected and dispelled and they had successfully kept her at bay with a combination of projectiles and ninjutsu. She had burnt most of her reserves trying to layer multiple genjutsu in the hopes of fooling them into thinking they had cleared them all, or to add sudden bursts of speed to try and catch them off guard so she could land a hit. All that had done was allow her chakra reserves to dwindle and slow her down even further. After that, the Kumo team's ninjutsu specialist trapped her inside some sort of Raiton cage jutsu and promptly disregarded her as a threat after that.

Her cyberbrain had quickly calculated the number of joules the Raiton jutsu was generating and knew that trying to power through it would cause multiple system failures in her limbs. They wouldn't be permanent failures but the damage would be enough to put her out of commission for a few days. That wasn't including the internal damage to her organic organs that she would sustain.

The lightning cage was too tall for her to leap out of, and she hadn't learned any ninjutsu because she had focused on iryōjutsu and genjutsu instead. The only other possibility would be to use Kawarimi but she couldn't be certain if that would allow her to escape unscathed.

In the end, Team 7 was still successful in driving off the Kumo ninja, but that was mainly due to Kakashi who had quickly forced the Jōnin to call a retreat before one of his genin got a taste of the Raikiri (Lightning Cutter). The Kumo genin weren't completely unscathed, as Naruto and Sasuke had managed to put them through their paces, but their well-coordinated teamwork had made them far more formidable than the unorganized Team 7.

If team 7 had worked together as intended, that Kumo team would have been destroyed.

Kakashi had reamed the team upon their return to Konoha with double training and extra harsh criticism for throwing out all of his hard work in favor of running into combat headlong. He had fallen just short of hospitalizing each of them in a no holds barred spar against himself because he was disturbed by how _eager_ they had been to rush headlong into combat. It was completely at odds with how most genin teams behaved during their first contact with an enemy.

On further reflection, he determined it was a simple combination of their extended training in the Academy combined with Naruto and Sasuke's need to test their strength that had caused them to jump the gun. Still, they deserved the harsh penalty because it had been a stupid move on their part and he wanted to curtail that kind of behavior immediately. They had tossed aside all of their training in the heat of battle, the primary cause of death for most genin and chūnin.

While that fiasco had been a learning experience for the entire team, Sakura had learned a bigger lesson from that engagement and demanded to learn some ninjutsu.

Naruto had literally leaped at the opportunity before managing to calm himself and make a strong case for Sakura to accept his aid in learning from him. Kakashi backed up Naruto's claim of having several Doton scrolls at his disposal, which was her strongest affinity. Kakashi also pointed out that Naruto's Suiton affinity was far stronger than his own, so he encouraged her to work with Naruto on strengthening her minor affinity first since it would help increase her reserves and control at the same time.

Kakashi had observed the lessons at first, to ensure that Naruto wasn't leaving out pertinent information that could be harmful or wasn't being too overbearing and clingy to be effective. He was pleasantly surprised to see that his fears were completely unwarranted. Naruto became unusually serious while teaching Sakura.

He was confident, firm, and direct in his explanations or when correcting her and displayed a great deal more patience than Kakashi thought was possible for the hyperactive blond. Instead of cheering her successes with his usual childish exuberance, he simply offered quiet encouragement and praise so that he wouldn't disrupt her concentration.

Even Sakura had been shocked to see this side of Naruto and it took her a full day to really adapt to the change. Kakashi could tell that she also didn't think this side of Naruto had existed, not knowing that he had never revealed that part of himself to anyone else. It had helped to warm the relationship between the two a bit more since Sakura was genuinely grateful. Instead of just acting like Naruto was a co-worker, Sakura was beginning to treat him as a friend.

For Kakashi, it had brought back so many of the bittersweet memories of the early days with his sensei. Instead of losing himself in his book after a few hours at the memorial stone, he had spent most of the evening looking at the names of those he had lost. Embracing that wallowing guilt that he viewed as his penance for his failures to those who had relied on and trusted him.

It was a sobering reminder that jabbed at that wound in his heart. The wound created by his endless guilt and crippling failure, but he reminded himself that it was for the best. That stopping them from developing more than grudging respect for him through his harsh, annoying, and standoffish behavior was the best for all of them.

Thinking of Naruto drew his attention to the blond who was studying everything around him with an almost childlike expression of awe on his face.

Naruto's growth had been phenomenal, to say the least, but that was to be expected when you could abuse the Kage Bunshin like he could. This past six months had seen Naruto blitz through his Suiton and Fūton chakra control exercises until he had mastered both levels of each affinity. While Naruto wanted to delve even further into his Suiton control by mastering the Nidaime's exercises, Kakashi had convinced him it would be better for him to focus on something else given the abundance of water around Ame.

Even if the exam arena was kept dry, the vast majority of Ame shinobi were Suiton users so they would likely have water sources nearby for them to exploit. Otherwise, he could always carry a canteen into battle.

The biggest change of all, however, came shortly after their first C-ranked mission; only a week after they had performed their first bell test. After the debacle with the Kumo ninja and his training session with Sakura, Naruto had begun to go through a dramatic change. He started to deviate from mastering all of his elemental exercises in favor of learning from that Fire Temple scroll he had found in the ruins of the Old Village. Kakashi hadn't been aware of what exactly was in that scroll, only thinking it was a taijutsu style that had been vetted by the Hokage.

The strange taijutsu style was named Shōrinji Ken (Shaolin Fist) and was quite different than most styles favored by shinobi. Most traditional styles were similar in form and technique to the Gōken (Strong Fist) or Jūken (Gentle Fist) who had both been derived from a single ancestor style known as Hakkakuken (White Crane Fist). Even the Academy style was a derivative of the White crane style with modifications intended to help the inexperienced adapt to taijutsu easier.

While the differences between the Gōken and the Jūken were large, the basic movements and approach of an attack were the same for both styles. You approached your opponent head on without a great deal of angular movement or side stepping. The attacks were all centered around strong, set stances that barely shifted or moved unless it was to create an opening to lure your opponent in. Where the Gōken focused on overwhelming power and strength to cause blunt damage and break bones, the Jūken was delicate and precise, attacking the opponent internally with pinpoint precision via the Byakugan.

The Shōrinji style had almost looked like an elaborate dance to Kakashi when he first saw Naruto moving through the beginner kata. It was flowing and fluid with a great deal of deceptive openings that were really setting an opponent up for a vicious combination. There was a lot of circular movements in the arms, legs, and even with the body itself. Many of the stances were odd to him. They looked to be off balance or left you in vulnerable positions with a lot of vital points exposed. Yet, all those points were actually covered by punches, kicks, or evasive maneuvers that came from odd angles. There were also multiple defenses against specific attacks on a person while they were in these compromised positions.

Kakashi had tried to introduce a few different styles to persuade Naruto into learning a more combat effective style, but Naruto had been strangely adamant to succeed with the foreign style. The blond put far more focus into the style than Kakashi liked, but after the first month, Naruto had quickly advanced to the intermediate levels of the style.

That was when Kakashi began to see how dangerous the style really was.

Where Naruto was getting dominated in spars that he used to come out even in, suddenly he was putting up more of a challenge than ever before. Considering that he hadn't even begun the advanced or mastery level training, that was a huge indicator of how well this style worked for Naruto.

There were times where Kakashi would catch himself studying Naruto as he moved through his kata or practiced sparring with his clones. Sakura had shown the most interest in the style but was determined to create her own original style since her body and build was too different to use Naruto's style to full effect. Even Sasuke had taken to observing the blond with his Sharingan, with Naruto's permission of course. Sasuke still viewed his clan's style as superior because of how it was intrinsically tied in with the Sharingan, but that didn't stop him from integrating a few of the most complicated kicks and useful counters.

A very big compliment considering that the only clan more arrogant about the superiority of their taijutsu style was the Hyūga clan.

What had surprised Kakashi the most, however, was how sudden Naruto had switched his focus onto advancing the style over everything else. He had abandoned furthering his Raiton element or mastering more jutsu in favor of mastering the style as fast as possible. Considering Naruto had been going down the path of a ninjutsu specialist since he started the Academy, it was a bit bizarre. Instead of having two-thirds of his clones working on new jutsu and chakra control, he only had half focused on chakra control and new jutsu. The other half continued to review the various different kata before pairing off to run through kata that were designed to be performed with a partner.

Not only had his focus and style begin to change, but Naruto's behavior and personality began to shift dramatically as well. While he was still cheerful and positive, his boisterous and loud nature had begun to taper off the more he threw himself into the style. Instead of being hyperactive or jittery when forced to sit still or listen to a boring lecture, he was able to listen patiently. He became less inclined to jump into the action unless he needed to and no longer complained if he was told to stay out of combat in favor of guarding a target or client. It had been such a sudden switch in his personality that both himself and the Hokage had begun to fear that the Kyūbi had been exerting its influence in some way. Both Kakashi and the Hokage began to closely monitor Naruto to find the cause of his change in behavior and routines.

What they discovered, however, had been shocking.

Naruto now rose before sunset and _meditated_ for a half hour. Not only had Naruto always been a late riser, but they didn't think it would be possible for Naruto to sit still for that long, let alone meditate. Then he would go through a strange kata routine they later learned was called the Taikyokuken (Tai chi). It was a form of moving meditation that warmed his body up and got his blood and chakra system flowing. Next, he went through several stretching exercises to increase his flexibility and strengthen different parts of his body. These included stretching his body and limbs like a contortionist. Stretching his legs over his head, performing front and side splits, bending forward until his head touched his knees before bending over backward to plant his hands flat on the ground as close to his heels as possible.

There were also balancing and agility challenges he would alternate with the stretching challenges on different days. Exercises like balancing on a narrow stump while holding certain stances, balancing with split kicks or even performing acrobatic moves like a gymnast would. He would balance his entire body off of the ground using just his hands before holding his body aloft in various different positions. The one balancing exercise he performed every morning was to balance on just his head and neck alone for as long as he could. The Hokage had worried that Naruto would break his neck doing something like that, but it seemed that hard head of his was more than capable of maintaining that position for almost an hour.

Naruto had later explained that it was to strengthen his neck and head to make it harder for him to suffer from concussions or a broken neck. At first, he had started off in a simple handstand before progressing to leaning his body against a wall while balancing on his head without his hands to support him. The stage the Hokage had witnessed him performing was one of the most advanced levels of strengthening the head and neck.

Next, would come a workout that was completely different than the standard one most shinobi went through. Holding weights while moving through kata, balancing on a pole while holding a pair of milk jugs in front, to his sides, and even behind his body. He would use the chin-up bar in his apartment to hang by his feet and do inverted sit-ups before dropping to the ground to start working on his jumping squats. He would also hold different fighting stances while his clones piled objects on his body. The clones would also strike the different muscle groups under strain with a stick while Naruto held the stance and tried to keep the objects balanced on his body.

Once that was done he would summon clones to begin preparing breakfast and lunch for the day. Both the Sandaime and Kakashi had been shocked to see Naruto actually preparing something other than instant ramen. His fridge and pantry had been filled with vegetables, fruits, grains, eggs, and lean meats. His clones made some strange form of porridge every morning that was made of various nuts, beans, rice, and grains which would be eaten with eggs, fish, or fruits for variety. While the scrolls apparently called for a vegetarian diet with only dairy being acceptable, Naruto had opted to cut back on meat instead of removing it entirely because he preferred organic foods and didn't want to take supplements for the various nutrients that could only come from meat.

Once his clones were set to work on the breakfast and lunch of his choice, Naruto would head out for the final part of his morning routine. This consisted of performing a free running routine from his apartment on the west side of the village to the Hokage Monument without using chakra. They watched as he climbed low walls and poles, leaped between buildings and vaulted over obstacles like railings, clothes lines, and low walls. On occasion he would add in the various agility exercises as he moved, flipping, hand-springing and rolling over, under, and off of objects in his path. Once he reached the stairs leading towards the top of the Hokage monument, he ran up the full length of them before immediately turning around to crawl down several flights on his hands and knees.

The Hokage had almost had a heart attack the first time he saw Naruto crawling head first down the dangerously steep staircase, but Naruto had done it with such proficiency that they could tell he had been doing this exercise for quite some time now. After Naruto finished his stair crawl, he would jog halfway back to his apartment before walking the rest to cool off. By the time his morning routine was finished, there was just enough time for him to eat the breakfast prepared by his clones and take a quick shower. He would then dress in his combat gear, take the packed lunch from his clones, and make his way to Training Ground 3 at full speed to ensure he wasn't late.

Kakashi was amazed at just how much Naruto had been working out before the team's scheduled training. If it were anyone else, he would consider it impossible to endure that much. Only Gai or Lee had a workout and training routine that was close to the level of what Naruto was doing and their routine was considered beyond extreme to most.

Considering the fact that Kakashi had been opting to put his team through more training than missions, he could now see why Naruto had been progressing so quickly. If they didn't have a mission to complete, Naruto was essentially moving from one workout to another.

Kakashi always had the team run laps around the training ground before performing the standard workout of sit ups, push ups, punch/kick combinations, jumping jacks, leg lifts, and pull ups. Then he would work on advanced formations and tactics or several rounds of sparring while trading partners before the lunch break.

With an hour for lunch, Naruto used to always run home or to Ichiraku's to get his ramen fix. Now he had a bento with simple meals like a few onigiri stuffed with fish, egg, or pork with a salad of some sort and some fruit. Otherwise, it was a simple meal of grilled chicken or fish with rice, pickled vegetables, and edamame. He never took longer than 30 minutes to finish his food and would either nap or meditate for the rest of the lunch hour.

After lunch was always individual training overseen by Kakashi or a clone. (Team 7 often suspected that they were all clones, but the first time Naruto dispelled his training clone, the whole team was punished so severely that they never tried to test them again.)

This was when Naruto would divide his clones to their tasks before focusing on his own. 30 clones were always working on elemental manipulation and chakra control with only a handful of those now dedicated to mastering a new jutsu, unlike the 20 he had assigned to that task before. The other 30 clones were all focused on kata, paired kata, or sparring with both Shōrinji and Academy styles.

Most of the time Naruto would focus on the more advanced flexibility, balance, and strength training that he didn't have time to perform in the morning. Once in a while, he teamed up with a clone to practice sparring himself. After all, a real fight was nothing like flowing through a kata, and while he retained the muscle memories and knowledge from his clones that sparred, it still felt different from when he sparred himself.

Once Kakashi dismissed them for the day, Naruto would personally run through all of his kata once more before dinner. Instead of packaged ramen, like he would have made in the past, Naruto would either take the time to visit the Ichiraku's stand or make his own. He also added more nori (seaweed), menma (braised bamboo shoots), and egg instead of extra roasted pork like he used to. After his meal, he would run through the Taikyokuken routine once more before settling down to study a few scrolls or browse LATTICE before heading to bed.

After the first time the Hokage and Kakashi had finished watching a typical day for Naruto through the crystal ball, they had sat in stunned silence for a few moments. Kakashi then asked the Hokage if he had ever seen some of the things Naruto was studying and if there were any dangers behind it. The Hokage had mentioned that he had seen similar exercises performed by the monks at the fire temple but there were major differences between the two.

The monks didn't perform such extensive stretching or balancing exercises. Their combat style was far less elaborate and more defensive in nature. The Fire Monks also seemed to have modified their own style to represent the most popular styles used in Genso no Kuni by removing the circular motions and strange angles of attacks. From what he had observed, the Monks had removed almost all of the foreign elements and replaced them with aspects of the Gōken instead.

The Hokage had seemed very relieved once he had witnessed the cause of the change in Naruto. Kakashi even heard him whisper a quick prayer of gratitude to the Kami before castigating himself for not reviewing the Fire Temple scroll before hand, as he had intended. He had been busy fighting for the Academy changes and dealing with attempts from the foreigners to gain more influence that it had slipped his mind completely. It was only when Naruto graduated that he remembered taking the scroll to review. Since Naruto had passed and would have Kakashi monitoring him, he simply returned the scroll as promised. The Sandaime lamented not allowing Naruto to start this style sooner, if he had, the blond might not have suffered as much mental trauma when his burden had been revealed to him.

When Kakashi queried the Hokage about his reaction, the Sandaime had revealed the events that lead to Naruto learning the truth about his burden and his parents. Kakashi had been completely unaware of Naruto's little breakdown or that he knew the truth about the Kyūbi or his parents. Since he had kept his distance from Naruto as much as possible, he hadn't been able to see just how much Naruto had been struggling with his growing resentment and bitterness.

The Sandaime kept more of a watch on Naruto than people suspected. As Naruto grew more distant from him, he had resorted to observing him through his crystal ball with increasing frequency; sometimes even assigning a clone the task once a month when he was busy. He had seen the signs of resentment and rage building in the normally cheerful blond when he believed he was alone and unobserved. While Naruto tried to use it to fuel his determination, it was obvious he was also suppressing a great deal of it as well. Naruto was increasingly becoming isolated from his peers once he left the Academy and no longer tried to socialize with others as frequently as he had before. The Sandaime had feared that the Kyūbi had been responsible for this change since Naruto admitted that the fox had spoken to him.

When Kakashi asked how a simple taijutsu scroll could make such a dramatic change in Naruto, the Sandaime explained how he had observed Naruto opening the scroll a day earlier and discovered that it had actually contained a large collection of scrolls hidden inside of seals. He began to go into a lecture based on the research he had conducted when he saw the various writings Naruto was studying; filling in other details from his own accumulated knowledge of history.

Apparently, the style Naruto was learning was one of the originators of the current Fire Temple style, if not the original style it was based on. It was a style that was introduced to their lands by foreign monks before the time of the Rikudo Sennin (Sage of Six Paths). All of the stances, kata, and exercises were heavily influenced by the religion that had created them; the religion created by a man known only as the Buddha. Not much knowledge was retained about the Buddha himself but some of the teachings were recorded for posterity by the Fire Temple monks because there were many similarities between the Buddha's philosophies and the Rikudo Sennin's philosophy of Ninshu.

The Sandaime suspected that the scroll Naruto had was one of the original copies made to keep a record of those teachings.

The aged Hokage then went on to explain how the fire monks of today had incorporated many of the teachings from the foreign monks because the different exercises and techniques made it easier for a person to become in tune their chakra system. The foreign monks also espoused a belief in peace and understanding like Ninshu did.

It was how to attain peace and understanding where the teachings of the Buddha began to disagree with the teachings of the Rikudo Sennin.

Ninshu espoused sharing emotions through the universal link all things shared (chakra) to gain understanding and establish peace. In order to spread this understanding and knowledge, people needed to make use of that chakra to make life easier. This was the foundation that Ninjutsu would be built from.

Unlike Ninshu, the followers of Buddha believed that such flashy and ostentatious displays of power would only lead people away from peace. That only through a humble life could you find the true path to peace. They studied and mastered taijutsu because it was the best way to ensure no one died if a conflict couldn't be avoided. They would only use this style for self-defense, or to eliminate any evil that was causing suffering to spread. Even then, however, they tried not to kill as it is one of their tenants to never take a life. The followers of Buddha believed in adhering to a strict lifestyle that many people would consider harsh and poor. This was in complete contrast to Ninshu that sought to make life easy and more comfortable for everyone.

In the end, the followers of Ninshu had won over the masses with the flashy displays of jutsu that could be used to help people. Jutsu like watering crops, building homes, and healing the sick. The Rikudo Sennin's amazing powers and strong charisma had also helped to fuel the spread of Ninshu over Buddhism which appeared to be harsh and poor in comparison. With the surging popularity of Ninshu, the followers of the Buddha eventually dwindled away into obscurity. Unfortunately, Ninshu and its practice of using jutsu to unite people would eventually evolve into the Ninjutsu of today as the world became increasingly violent with the death of the Rikudo Sennin and the war between his successors.

Kakashi had been quite surprised about this knowledge. He had never heard much about Ninshu before. Even the fire temple monks he had dealt with in the past never mentioned much about the philosophy. Most of the monks also used Ninjutsu on a regular basis. It was hard to think that something like Ninjutsu, that was solely designed for warfare, could originate from Ninshu. Especially when you took into consideration the beliefs of the philosophy.

In some ways, the followers of Buddha had been correct. The powers displayed by Ninshu _had_ evolved into tools of warfare.

Kakashi asked how much the Sandaime knew about the Buddhist philosophy so he could better understand the changes in Naruto. From what he had heard so far, it sounded like it would eventually lead Naruto to quit the shinobi force. An option that wasn't really possible given his heritage and his burden. If Naruto began to follow these beliefs, he could end up resenting the village for forcing him into conflict.

The Sandaime had reassured him that it wasn't likely that Naruto would follow that path given his goal of being Hokage. Even if that goal were to change, the Sandaime knew that Naruto still sought strength to prove himself to the village. If Naruto did decide to fully embrace the philosophy, which the Sandaime highly doubted, he would still allow Naruto to serve in a manner that wouldn't run counter to his beliefs. He could place him on one of the numerous village defense teams or even the Barrier response team.

With Kakashi's fears settled, the Sandaime dove back into lecture mode once more. Something he had missed greatly over the years, but he dare not take another team after the fiasco that his own had become. The Densetsu no Sannin were just as infamous as they were famous in his opinion and it had been painful to the old Kage to see what had become of them all.

The aged Hokage had reached out to a contact of his in the Fire Temple who had explained their beliefs at length from a historical scroll. Apparently, the Buddhists believed that peace could only be achieved by attaining enlightenment. By harmonizing ones body, mind, spirit, and chakra with the energy of the universe, they were able to ascend to a higher level of understanding and awareness, therefore becoming enlightened. With enlightenment, the spirit would become free from the stress, pain, and suffering of life. Some of the Buddhist teachings even claimed that once true enlightenment was attained, a person could transcend reincarnation if they chose. Living in perfect tranquility and serenity as a higher life form, free of the shackles or mortality.

This meant that the followers of Buddha went through a great deal more introspection and meditation than the Fire Monks did. Like Ninshu, a major part of being a Buddhist was to be understanding and forgiving of people who lashed out due to their suffering. Many Buddhists believed that you were obligated to absorb the pain and stress of those who were further from enlightenment than you were. To take those negative emotions into yourself and free them through calming exercise or meditation so that you could carry those around you towards enlightenment as well.

The meditation, the chakra flow exercises, and even the control over one's mental state was a major factor in a Buddhist's life and because of this, their taijutsu styles all required those requirements to be met before the combat style was effective. Like chakra, the style was meant to be fluid and in constant motion, which is why it had so many circular movements. The practitioner had to be fully in tune with their body and chakra system at all times and keep it under complete control so they could deliver the right amount of force at the right time with each strike.

That was when Kakashi realized why the style seemed to be ineffective at first. Naruto hadn't fully embraced the necessary aspects to make it effective at that time. He had needed the chakra control and knowledge of his chakra system that could only come from meditation and Taikyokuken; a subject that Naruto had been terrible at all his life. His body had also been built up around the more strict and solid stances of the Academy style so he didn't have the necessary flexibility and agility required for the Shōrinji Ken. Once Naruto had fully embraced the key components of the style and altered his exercises to fit with his new style, he had progressed at a rapid rate.

Now Kakashi could confidently say that Naruto's taijutsu would catch even some Jōnin off guard. It was very effective when Naruto chose to be aggressive but it truly shined when on the defensive, which was perfect for Naruto's style of combat.

He would stand at a distance using his massive chakra reserves to bombard you with ninjutsu, fooling you into thinking he was entirely ranged focus. The second you closed the gap, however, you were in for a big surprise. Naruto's chakra control had advanced so dramatically, because of his newfound dedication to the style, that he had begun to integrate Suiton and Fūton into some of his attacks without the use of hand seals. The attacks weren't overly strong, but they were perfect for throwing the opponent off even further. Not only did they have to deal with the unorthodox style, but they were also being pelted with bursts of drilling water or small gusts of cutting wind that hampered their balance and threw off their timing. With enough time, Kakashi was certain those attacks would evolve from minor flesh wounds to crippling or fatal injuries.

Kakashi had been surprised when Naruto had told him he still planned on being a ninjutsu specialist after his dramatic switch. Naruto had simply stated that he had just wanted to get his taijutsu up to speed before he returned his focus back to Ninjutsu. He felt the Academy style wasn't good enough for him to rely on and the styles Kakashi had shown him didn't catch his interest like the Shōrinji style did. It was for this reason that Kakashi began to put more faith in the Sandaime's belief that Naruto wouldn't quit being a shinobi or start resenting the village for making him fight.

Kakashi couldn't keep down the surge of pride in how much his students had developed since that first test six months ago. They had grown so rapidly in front of him that he couldn't deny he had become attached despite his best efforts. Hopefully, they succeeded and were all promoted so he could distance himself from them before it was too late.

As the stadium continued to fill and the spectators became rowdier, Naruto felt his nervous excitement growing. Closing his eyes, he began one of the simple breathing exercises he had learned from the Fire Temple scroll to help him remain calm and focused. Where in the past he would have been bouncing around and masking his nervousness with a mask of brash overconfidence, he was now storing that energy to be channeled during the next stage of the exams. Even he had to admit that he had changed dramatically since he had started studying the Fire Temple scrolls, but it had certainly been for the better.

When he had first opened the scroll to begin studying the style, he had found a series of seals filled with different scrolls that were neatly organized from introductory to master level with a few extras on philosophy and chakra theory. Of course, he had deemed the extras as unnecessary and had moved onto the first kata scroll in eagerness. After that annoying test from mutt face, he wanted to surprise everyone with an unorthodox style to show how bad ass he was. That didn't turn out so well. He kept tripping over his feet, falling over on his face and even pulled a few muscles trying to copy some of the stances and moves illustrated in the kata. He didn't want to give up so easily, so he went back and began reading from the start.

It had been the best decision of his life.

The first thing he learned was the breathing exercises, stretching routines and the Taikyokuken routine. He disregarded the breathing exercises at first and went through the moving meditation routine at first since it looked like a simple and easy kata. As he began going through the motions he found it to be strangely soothing. He felt everything around him fade away and began feeling the energy within himself. It had been a powerful, energizing sensation that was oddly soothing at the same time.

He turned his attention back to the first scrolls to find out what exactly had happened and found that all of those extra scrolls were tied into each other and dictated how the results should be felt if properly performed. Like the scrolls described, he could feel his Yin and Yang energy as it gathered to form chakra. He could feel his chakra core and, for the first time, he began to feel it flowing through his pathways and pooling in his tenketsu. As he became in touch with his inner self that tension, the bitterness, the pain of his burden began to feel lighter. He could feel his turbulent chakra calm as those negative emotions that had built up inside of him began to just drift away. The more he focused on the movements and the energy flowing inside of him, the more those negative feelings were being purged from his system.

He began to eagerly study the beginner's concepts during his free time while keeping up with his training with Team 7 and Kakashi. At first, he kept it hidden from everyone so that it could catch Sasuke off guard once he had mastered it entirely. After he began delving deeper into the introduction scrolls he became so absorbed in the concepts that he forgot about the combat aspects entirely. While some of the spiritual concepts were unfamiliar and seemed a little far fetched to him, he couldn't deny the benefits he had begun to reap. So, he began integrating all the teachings that would help him master the style as intended. As he learned how to meditate and clear his mind, he found it easier to let go of more than just his thoughts. He found it easier to let go of the grudges and the feelings of injustice he held onto. When the hateful villagers spat at him or cursed him, it didn't really bother him as much because all that tension and pain would disappear with his nightly routine. It was easier for him to ignore that negativity because, for the first time, he truly _understood_ how to rise above all that petty hatred that was fostered by pain and suffering. By taking that negativity and releasing it through his different forms of meditation, he was giving himself and them an outlet to let go of it all.

He had also established a dialogue with the Kyūbi to a certain extent. It wasn't cordial by any means, but the fox had slowly become less vicious and hateful as they began debating the differences and similarities of the philosophy behind his style and the style that the Kyūbi apparently supported which was Ninshu. The philosophy scroll and the chakra theory scroll both mentioned Ninshu and Buddhism at length, and Naruto read them both in his spare time so he could better understand the intricacies of the style itself. The more time he spent in meditation, the more he began appearing in front of the Kyūbi. Eventually, they began to speak to each other and as Naruto began to embrace more and more of the style, he allowed his grudge against the kitsune to fade as well.

The Kyūbi had been surprisingly knowledgeable about the style itself and had begun mentioning more sophisticated exercises in chakra control and improving his combat style by essentially mocking his current skill level while mentioning a better way to improve. (Usually masked as an insult towards his intelligence)

As Naruto improved, he became more in tune with his inner self and realized that his previous excitability and confrontational behavior had been holding him back as much as the negative emotions from his burden. His overconfidence and brash nature, his reluctance to study everything around him because of his lack of patience, all of these things had contributed to the imbalance inside of him. An imbalance further exasperated by the presence of the Kyūbi's Yang chakra that was slowly bleeding into him. All of this had held him back from his goal and hindered him from finding his true strength, so he began to change.

He focused more on meditation and studying in order to strengthen his Yin reserves. He became more respectful and more patient. He worked on thinking before acting and he tempered his pride.

All of these moves had helped him gain the modicum of respect the Kyūbi now granted him. Enough respect that the Kyūbi was no longer as insulting or condescending to him. They could freely communicate with each other without the need for meditation but the fox only deigned to speak to him when it came to integral matters or to further the discussion on Ninshu and how humanity had bastardized it.

Naruto had agreed with the bijū, much to its surprise, but had mentioned that the problem lies with the lack of balance. Ninshu had been too focused on chakra itself and Buddhism had been too focused on individualism. Naruto began to believe that a balance of both was the best philosophy to change humanity for the better and end the endless cycle of violence and hatred. Because of how much both the concepts of Ninshu and Buddhism had helped him deal with the struggles in his life, he had added a new goal for him to achieve on his path to Hokage. He wanted to formulate a new philosophy that incorporated both philosophies in order to share it with the world. Since Ninshu had all but been forgotten along with Buddhism, Naruto wanted to do what he could to keep the knowledge alive and give it a chance to spread on its own merits.

That declaration had gone a long way in swaying the Kyūbi's opinion of him.

The bijū wasn't willing to just trust his words, however, but he was more willing to guide Naruto down that path and, in particular, the path of Ninshu as it was intended to be. The Kyūbi was willing to lend its chakra in certain situations without trying to wrestle control away from him _if_ Naruto politely requested it. Naruto had thanked the Kyūbi for his consideration but had opted to avoid using it in favor of relying on his own skills and power. This had also helped to keep the Kyūbi appeased and more receptive to offering advice to his container.

Naruto opened his eyes as he felt Sakura's hand land on his shoulder. Smiling at her in response, he took a brief look around to see that the proctor had arrived and most of the genin were now filing into the contestant box. Following his team, he couldn't help but keep the smile on his face as he thought over how his relationship with Sakura had improved over the past six months.

After their first mission, he had been angry and disappointed in himself for acting like an idiot. While he had some skill in taijutsu, he had never bothered to further that talent. Opting to focus primarily on ninjutsu. When their team formation had broken apart on the first contact, he realized how problematic it was for a ninjutsu specialist who didn't have the right support. While his clones helped to funnel or lure his targets into his attack zone, their fragility made it easy for the Kumo ninja to eliminate them before evading or countering his attacks. When he was then pressured heavily by a kenjutsu specialist to take the heat off of their ninjutsu specialist, Naruto found himself barely able to launch more attacks without using clones to drag the sword wielder off of him. Yet, when he finally set the kenjutsu specialist up for a major combination attack, the ninjutsu specialist had effectively negated his plan by eliminating his clone and forcing him to break off his attack.

It was then that Naruto decided he didn't want to rely on clones to keep attacks off of him. If he were to be highly skilled at close range, he could distract the enemy from his clones who could use combination jutsu from a distance safely. He could also fool people into thinking he was a taijutsu specialist instead of a ninjutsu specialist or vice versa, depending on the situation.

If it hadn't been for Kakashi, they would have failed the mission. It had been another wake up call for him because if the mission parameters had been a bit different. His own idiocy would have cost his client their life instead of a simple scroll. So, he decided that he would focus more on his taijutsu and wouldn't try to hide it for stupid, selfish reasons. His competition with Sasuke wasn't more important than doing his damn job. He wouldn't fail like that again.

When Sakura had tearfully requested to learn jutsu from Kakashi, Naruto had quickly volunteered to help her in an effort to try and regain their lost friendship. It would also help him remain fresh with his own knowledge. One of the best ways to ensure you fully understood a concept was to begin teaching it to others because they asked different questions and viewed things from a different point of view. By teaching, you were inadvertently introduced to certain aspects of the subject that you hadn't fully focused on when you first learned the subject. It also forced you to break down and review each aspect of the subject in order for you to show the basics to your student.

Besides, any time he could spend with Sakura one on one was a bonus in his book. He also hated to see her so dejected and hurt. He had also felt powerless as she struggled to fight and defend herself effectively during that mission because he had been unable to help her despite his Fūton affinity. If teaching her jutsu helped her protect herself and restored her confidence, then he would be more than happy to share everything with her.

Eager not to blow his chance at restoring his friendship with her, Naruto began forcing himself to rise earlier. He established his current morning routine to burn off his excitement and anxiousness and center himself so that he could focus on what was important.

Helping Sakura grow stronger.

It had been exhaustive at first, but since he didn't need to expend much energy on training Sakura in Suiton manipulation, he managed to adjust quickly. Being worn out and sore helped to keep his usual exuberance subdued and soon Sakura began to change her view of him. She had been riddled with guilt for her treatment of him during the Academy years, but Naruto had waived if off and accepted her apology. After she had completed her Suiton exercises and learned two of the jutsu he felt would be more suited for her, their relationship went back to how it was before she became infatuated with Sasuke. She would start conversations with him, smile at him, and was even willing to spend time with him outside of training. He still didn't dare to hope she would see him in any other light than a friend, but he was willing to accept that. It was just another sign that studying the philosophies in the scroll were improving his life.

Naruto watched with interest as the team from Kumo eliminated the team from Taki. The roar of the crowd was louder than thunder in his ears. He couldn't imagine how it would sound when the entire stadium was filled. Since it wasn't the finals, the stadium was only halfway full. When the Daimyō and all the others arrived, the stadium would be packed with foreign dignitaries, nobles, and prospective clients.

Naruto looked up when he heard the announcer call out the next teams to battle. He felt confident that they would clear this round. Their teamwork was flawless. Kakashi had put them through the ringer for the final two months in terms of understanding common attacks used by each village and the skills they should expect. Not only that, they had learned in depth knowledge about their rivals from Konoha as well.

" **Konoha Team A and Konoha Team C please proceed to the center of the Arena."** the loudspeaker blared. **"Final Call.** **Konoha Team A and Konoha Team C please proceed to the center of the Arena."**

A graphic appeared on all the screens showing the registration photos of Team 7 above the photos of Team 10.

Sasuke smirked at Naruto before making their way down from the contestant box. Naruto could tell that Sasuke considered their match in the bag. They had run through more scenarios about this team than any other because of the rumors that Ame would be focusing on team or group battles in the Finals. Kakashi had drilled it into their heads that their victory would all come down to eliminating their formation and displaying better tactics if they wanted to present a good case for promotion. Sure they could brute force them out of the equation, but that wouldn't score them points with the evaluators.

Naruto heard Shikamaru mutter "troublesome" under his breath as he followed behind Ino and Choji.

Taking their position on the North end of the field as directed, Naruto and Sasuke flanked Sakura in their default position. The formation that Team 10 took would make all the difference in how they would respond.

When they saw Choji take the center position with Ino on his right and Shikamaru on the left, they shot each other quick glances before getting ready for the fight. Tapping into that reserve of nervous energy he had stored away, Naruto tightened the special leather bracers he had ordered to help augment his style. This would be the first time he would be able to utilize them in combat.

The black leather bracers covered his entire forearm and were made of two thick layers of leather that had a layer of chakra conductive metal in the center. Not only did they help power and stabilize his jutsu, but it also made his chakra flow attacks from his taijutsu style stronger and more efficient. They were just part of the changes made in his outfit since he had adopted his new style.

Instead of the sleeveless Anbu style shirt, he opted for a more traditional loose gi top in storm gray which had all the stitching and trim done in burnt orange. The gi top had wider sleeves to help conceal his movements and provide more of a distraction while in close combat and was worn over a kusari (chain) shirt. His bracers fit over the sleeves of his gi to prevent tangling his fingers or giving the enemy something easy to grip onto.

His pants matched the top with a baggier fit that allowed him to take advantage of his increased mobility and flexibility. On his calves were shin guards that matched his bracers in material and functionality. While he left his bracers exposed, the shin guards were secured to his legs with black combat wrap like most shinobi used, but over the top of the wrap was a thick strap of burnt orange leather lined with chain mail to make it harder to cut through. The strap was tied in a criss-cross pattern which contrasted with the black wrap underneath.

He kept his shuriken and kunai pouches in the same place but had switched his cloth hip holster to black leather, even though he hadn't been using them as often as he had in the past. Naruto kept them stocked with the all the standard equipment for a lack of better things to fill them with at the moment. On his feet were the standard, ankle length black shinobi sandals

His hitai-ate was still on his forehead holding his unruly hair up out of his face. His hairstyle hadn't changed much either. A bit longer than before but he kept it trimmed enough to prevent it from dropping into his eyes even if his hitai-ate was knocked loose.

Sasuke hadn't changed very much since the Academy, besides growing a few inches. His shirt and shoes were now black instead of blue. His shorts were replaced with black cargo pants and his leg and arm warmers were replaced with Anbu style arm guards and shin guards that were made of chakra conductive metal with embedded microchips to help increase his chakra flow and cybernetic output. His chokuto was secured to his waist at an angle but instead of placing it on the side like most people would, he had it set up for a reverse draw from his back right hip.

Sakura had modified her outfit a great deal. Now she wore a long sleeved kevlar catsuit. Over the catsuit was a red cheongsam reminiscent of her old dress but it was sleeveless, the length reached mid thigh instead of mid-calf, and the side slits rose all the way to her waist. On her hands were black leather gloves that gave the appearance of being attached to her sleeves. On her feet were knee-length combat sandals with a small block heel to add a touch of femininity while still allowing steady footing. Her long pink hair was parted heavily on the left and tied in a neatly coiled side bun on the right side of her head. Even if the bun was to fall free, her hitai-ate was in its traditional place, acting as a headband to keep her hair out of the face should it fall free. Her long bangs were secured with small red clips.

Instead of the standard hip and thigh pouches, she had modified utility belt and holster into a makeshift hip bag that was secured to her hips with an adjustable strap that belted it to her thighs. As a combat medic in training, she was usually required to carry a large bag of medical supplies across her lower back. To make herself less identifiable as a medic, she had opted to use two medium sized bags hanging from her hips, like the gun holsters she had seen some of the foreigners wearing, securing them to her thighs with an adjustable strap. This gave her more storage capacity overall and was more comfortable to her than an unwieldy bag on her lower back. There was a smaller pocket on the outer edge of her right hip bag that kept her kunai secured while her shuriken were stored in a fancy shuriken dispenser tube that was located on the belt strap where her old hip pouch used to be located.

She had modeled this dispenser after a belted coin dispenser she had seen at a festival. The ease at which the man could withdraw the flat metal to produce change had inspired her to make a shuriken holder that could behave in the same way. The holder was powered using inductive power transfer from her cybernetic limbs. Pressing the button on the bottom dispensed a single shuriken while the top button dispensed a group of three. It was far more efficient then fishing them out of her pouch as the tube ensured that the shuriken were deposited into her hand in the position needed to throw them.

Sasuke had actually requested a few of them from Sakura but kept them hidden inside of his old pouch to fool his opponent's into thinking he had the standard amount of shuriken. Sakura had simply opted to paint her device the same color as her belt so only the most perceptive would be able to notice the dispenser. She had offered to make a chakra powered one for Naruto, but he declined. He had less use for shuriken with his fighting style and because of his proficiency with Suiton: Mizu Shuriken.

She had teased him about being a technophobe afraid that the shuriken dispenser would plot to kill him and he had retorted that he didn't need a nanite-infused belt that would transform into a robot puppy before running away with his pants.

The proctor called for the match to start and immediately Team 7 launched into a massive combination attack to drive Team 10 apart and stop Choji's charge.

Sakura used Doton: Iwadeppō (Rock Gun) to send expanding boulders towards the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Sasuke used Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Fire Jutsu) to light each boulder on fire while Naruto used Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough) to fan the flames and increase the speed of the boulders.

Choji was forced to cancel his Bubun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Expansion) that had intended to grab Sakura and negate their close-range specialist. He had charged in to try and break their combination but hand underestimated the speed at which Team 7 would finish their jutsu. Choji had no choice but to use Kawarimi with a leftover rock from the previous match to escape the barrage of superheated boulders flying towards him at high speed. Ino nimbly dodged the boulders while dashing towards the side to try and gain a flanking position on Sasuke. Shikamaru dashed to the opposite side of Ino and towards the direction that Choji had appeared when he used the replacement jutsu.

While the plan had called for Shikamaru to be separated instead of Ino, Team 7 didn't falter at the unexpected change. Naruto sent a group of Kage Bunshin to delay Choji and Shikamaru while covering his clones with Suiton: Mizu Shuriken and Tenkyū (Heavenly Weeping) to keep them away from regrouping with Ino under a barrage of water shuriken and senbon. Every time a clone was destroyed by Shikamaru or Choji, Naruto replaced it with another one while keeping his distance.

Meanwhile, Ino was being charged by both Sakura and Sasuke to prevent her from using her family jutsu to try and take control of one of them. With Sakura and Sasuke starting to hem her in, she was caught on the defensive, trying to fend off a sword and Sakura's chakra powered strikes with just a pair of kunai and her agility.

Choji saw Ino in trouble and broke from defending Shikamaru to lend her aid. Using his Bubun Baika no Jutsu he smashed one of the potted trees that were scattered around the arena for ambiance. Seizing a handful of the shattered chunks of wood, Choji tossed them into the center of the arena for Ino to use for Kawarimi. Naruto tried to intercept some of the pieces of wood with clones or shuriken to prevent Ino from reuniting with her team, but Shikamaru cut off his approach by bouncing his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession) off of the shadows of the flying debris before trying to trap Naruto in his grip.

Naruto used Shunshin (Body Flicker) to avoid the trap and appeared next to Shikamaru before engaging the Nara in a taijutsu battle. He started with the Academy style to give Shikamaru a false sense of familiarity so he would feel comfortable engaging him instead of trying to escape. Shikamaru didn't feel inclined to try and take him on face to face, however. After blocking and parrying a flurry of strikes, Shikamaru lashed out with a kunai before following up with a handful of shuriken to force Naruto to back off a bit. While Naruto was busy evading the projectiles, Shikamaru prepared his escape.

As Naruto charged back in to land a cross, Shikamaru used another piece of the shattered tree to Kawarimi behind Naruto, at a safe distance, before trying to trap the blond in his shadow once more. Naruto was barely able to keep the smirk off of his face when the Kagemane no Jutsu landed on the clone Shikamaru thought was real. It had been a close thing for him to avoid, but as soon as he sensed that flare of chakra behind him, he used his own replacement to swap with a clone that had hidden under a Henge as a piece of the shattered tree.

If Shikamaru had tried to use his clone to replace himself, his technique would have failed and Naruto would have taken him out. However, he was in a better position to finish off the Nara now as Shikamaru had chosen a shattered branch directly in front of his clone. Naruto wasted no time striking a pressure point on the back of Shikamaru's neck rendering him unconscious.

While that was occurring, Sakura was engaged in a strength challenge with Choji after they had exchanged a flurry of blows. Sakura had cut him off from helping Ino with a fierce taijutsu battle that the Akamichi had been losing until he resorted to his Bubun Baika no Jutsu to send her flying back before grabbing her while she rolled back to her feet. The Akimichi heir was trying his best to use his oversized fist to grapple Sakura in order to squeeze her into submission, but Sakura was using a combination of chakra and output redirection from her legs into her arms to keep the giant hand from closing around her. The battle seemed to be even at the moment, but Sakura's legs were beginning to falter under the strain.

By redirecting the muscle and nerve control signals from her legs to her arms, she could double or triple her output, but this caused her legs to temporarily shut down once the remaining energy had been expended. Currently, she was shoring up her weakening leg muscles with chakra alone, but if Choji caught onto her trick and began to try and push or pull her off her feet, she would collapse entirely. Her chakra reserves were dwindling rapidly as a result and her mind raced to find a way out of this predicament before Choji eliminated her from the fight.

She was saved at the last minute by a cluster of small fireballs that Sasuke launched at Choji, striking him in the back. While they weren't strong enough to cause more than 1st degree burns, they did succeed in breaking his concentration enough for Sakura to surge free from his grip. With her patented war cry, she used the last of her energy to charge forward and land a powerful cross to the Akimichi's jaw and send him flying back several feet. The brute of team 10 bounced off the ground and rolled back a few more feet, unconscious.

Naruto appeared next to Sakura with a Shunshin to help support her as her legs finally collapsed from the redirection. After a few minutes, her full functionality would be restored and she would just need to rest a bit to recover her chakra.

Sasuke looked as if he hadn't even engaged in combat yet, despite the fact that he had faced off against Ino for most of the fight. The Yamanaka had tried her best to gain some distance and use her patented Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch) to claim control of Sasuke, but she hadn't counted on him also knowing how to use the Shunshin.

In fact, the only reason any members of Team 7 knew the speed enhancement technique was because of the scroll that Naruto had found in the ruins of the Old Library. Technically it was a jutsu reserved for Jōnin level shinobi because the taxing effects it could have on the extremities of a growing body when performing the jutsu. That wasn't an issue for any of the members of Team Kakashi since their bodies were either cybernetic or, in Naruto's case, had the healing powers of the Kyūbi.

After toying with the Yamanaka heir in close combat for a bit to make things interesting for himself, Sasuke had appeared behind Ino in a swirl of leaves and had knocked her out with the saya (sheath) of his chokuto to cause less physical damage. With that done, he decided to give Sakura a hand so they could finish this match and move onto the finals where the real challenges would be at.

The proctor declared Team 7 the victors and the crowd began to go wild.

Team 7 returned to the competitor's box confident that they had performed well. While the scenario hadn't played out exactly like they wanted, the gist of the strategy had been fulfilled. Separate and pressure the singled out person in order to break their formation entirely. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio worked best when they were able to maintain their formation and control the field of battle. While this part of the exam was a test of teamwork, forcing Team 10 into individual battles was the best way to eliminate their strength and lower their score.

While it would seem odd that they would undermine their own teammates, the rules of scoring in the second exam had been geared more towards controlling your enemy than showing fancy teamwork and strength. Kakashi had likened it to how Hanzō had so effectively managed to protect his village while dealing with three separate warring factions. For the Ame judges, controlling your enemies actions and forcing them into a vulnerable position was worth a great deal towards promotion as it was a sign that the genin had the right mindset to take on tougher missions and lead others.

The individuals were still graded on their own merits during the battles so teams that weren't as successful still had a shot at promotion. Like any other exam, though, the more you were able to perform in front of the judges the higher shot at promotion you had. While the judges were composed of a multi-village panel, the Ame scoring system still weighed heavily into the mix.

Team 7 studied the rest of their competition as the rest of the matches were concluded. In the end, the finals bracket was displayed. The finals were going to be a series of free for all battles in the spirit of Ame's strength. The groups were randomly shuffled amongst the remaining fighters and the brackets posted on the main screen.

* * *

 **Kunoichi Bracket**

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February 18th North Field

All times posted in Genso Standard Time (UTC/GMT +12)

4:00 pm Match 1: Tenten [Konoha] vs Mika [Nadeshiko] vs Haku [Kiri]

4:30 pm Match 2: Sakura [Konoha] vs Kimiko [Nadeshiko] vs Mai [Iwa]

5:00 pm Match 3: Mitsuki [Suna] vs Shima [Kumo] vs Hitomi [Ame]

5:30 pm Match 4: Shizuka [Nadeshiko] vs Michio [Suna] vs Second Elimination Match 1*** vs Second Elimination Match 2*** vs Second Elimination Match 3***

 _*If severe injuries are sustained by the eliminated contestant, the first contestant eliminated in that match will replace the injured fighter. If both contestants are too injured to_ _compete_ , _the match will proceed without an extra contestant but points will be reduced._

 _**Second Elimination candidates will receive bonus points if competing consecutively._

February 18th Center Field

6:30 pm Match 5: Winner Match 1 vs Winner Match 2 vs Winner Match 3 vs Winner Match 4

* * *

 **Shinobi Bracket**

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 **!Notice to Bookies and Bettors: Riku of Kumo has been disqualified from the finals due to injury. All bets involving this candidate in the Finals are now off book and refunds have been authorized!**

February 18th Center Field

 _All times posted in Genso Standard Time (UTC/GMT +12)_

7:30 pm Match 1: Naruto [Konoha] vs Shibi [Ame] vs Katsuo [Iwa]

8:00 pm Match 2: Neji [Konoha] vs Chōjūrō [Kiri] vs Sora [Iwa]

8:30 pm Match 3: Lee [Konoha] vs Taka [Suna] vs Satoshi [Kumo]

9:00 pm Match 4: Sasuke [Konoha] vs Minoru [Ame] vs Tatsuo [Kiri]

10:00 pm Match 5: Winner Match 1 vs Winner Match 2 vs Winner Match 3 vs Winner Match 4

Purchase Tickets for the Final Exams now before all seats are Sold Out! Visit the Box Office or /PoseiDome-HAEvN/ to purchase your tickets now!

 _*Konoha residents may purchase tickets through TRELLIS at /AME-EXAMS/Chūnin/_

 _PoseiDome™ does not authorize third party ticket brokers. Please avoid purchasing tickets through unauthorized brokers in order to prevent fraud and eliminate scammers. PoseiDome, Poseidon co., and management are not responsible for any tickets purchased outside of authorized brokers. Management reserves the right to deny entry to any tickets purchased through third party dealers or unauthorized vendors._

* * *

As the Konoha team made their way back towards their assigned inn, the mood was still jovial despite the fact that two of the teams had been eliminated. Kiba had declared it a dick move on Hanzō's part to pair them against each other in order to reduce the amount of Konoha Shinobi in the finals. Naruto couldn't help but agree with the Inuzuka, but there wasn't anything that could be done about it.

Ever since they had set foot into Ame they had been under heavy guard. The civilians and shinobi had also been openly hostile towards them to the extent that the guards recommended they don't wander outside of the foreign quarter that had been set up for the exams. If they were involved in any altercations, even if in self-defense, they would be eliminated from the exams after being thoroughly interrogated.

It had been interesting for Naruto to see how his peers dealt with such animosity and ostracism from the village around him. For him, it had been amusing just how familiar it all felt but he took it all in stride like he did back home. Sakura had seemed a bit put out by the guard's restrictions while Sasuke was his usual stoic self.

The typical loudmouths (Ino and Kiba) had been quite vocal in their protests and Naruto could only shake his head at the fact that less than a year ago he would have been right there with them. Probably being louder and even more offensive than they were at the moment.

Lee and Gai had been surprisingly subdued when they learned that their training would be restricted to certain times with time limits being enforced. Apparently, the few training grounds that Ame had set aside for the exams were shared between all of the contestants.

Choji, Shikamaru, Tenten, and Shino hadn't really responded or reacted in any way but that wasn't a surprise to Naruto. Shino had always been non-reactionary. Tenten just wanted to get dry and check all her scrolls to make sure they didn't get damaged. Choji was just waiting to get out of the rain so he could eat his chips safely, and Shikamaru had already written it off as requiring too much effort to get upset.

Hinata and Neji had seemed offended at their treatment but were too dignified to give a response. Ever since the Caged Bird Seal had been removed, the Hyūga clan had seemed to become united in their arrogance. Most of the former Branch members were not so bad, but with the entire family being integrated into the Main branch, the rules for expected behavior had been enforced across the clan.

While the Main Branch had always dictated a stern, proud, and confident demeanor that was above reproach, the Branch family had always been trained to be more passive, humble, and inconspicuous. Now that the Branch members were freed of the seal, however, that humility had quickly fled in the face of wild behavior. It was to be expected after being forcibly subdued for so long that they didn't really know the meaning of restraint now that they were free.

Hinata had always been polite, if not too shy, but with the elimination of the seal she had changed a great deal. She was exuberantly happy, for one, and her confidence had seemed to swell now that the threat of being branded was off the table. She had begun to display that famous Hyūga pride and with the pressures of the heiress being passed onto her sister instead, Hinata had finally been free to be herself.

Neji, on the other hand, had only become more of an asshole. Naruto didn't know him too well but he had heard plenty from Tenten who he got along with quite well. (Her family's store was one of the few that would sell him ninja gear without overcharging) While Neji wasn't such a prick about dictating people's fates with his "clairvoyance" anymore, he still had a superiority complex and loved to put people down with vicious words if he deemed them beneath his notice.

Neji had gone off on a rant towards him while they were in line for the 1st exam and Naruto had managed to shut him up by asking him why he was giving him a speech if he was "trash that was beneath his notice" Naruto then pointed out that he wasn't convincing anyone with his act and that holding on to such hatred would only give him wrinkles faster. Wrinkles that were considered unacceptable in the eyes of the glorious Hyūga clan.

Hinata and Tenten had tried and failed, to suppress their laughter at the expression on Neji's face. It had been torn between indignation, confusion, and surprise.

Most of the Konoha Rookies had been surprised at the sudden change in Naruto's behavior, expecting him to lash out and start yelling and insulting Neji. Instead, the blond had calmly, and politely, shut down the former branch member with a look of boredom on his face.

"Sensei, how are we going to train properly for a month when all of the foreign shinobi are going to be using the same training grounds as us?" Tenten asked Gai.

Kakashi was the one that responded to her question. "Actually, Hokage-sama has arranged for... alternate transportation for those who are competing in the finals. Those who didn't qualify will have to take the long way back or purchase a ticket for the Finals if they wish to stay and watch."

"What kind of alternate transportation?" Ino asked with a pout. "Why don't _we_ get a ride too?"

"Because you lost, Ino-pig!" Sakura said with a smirk.

"Whatever, forehead, at least I still have better style than you do," Ino said with a huff.

The rivals began to glare at each other with scowls on their face.

"Actually, I would like to know what kind of transportation has been arranged as well," Hinata asked quietly.

She was wondering if it was one of those automatic carriages that moved without horses. She had always wanted to see one in person.

"I hear that the Hokage has secured one of those flying machines from the foreigners," Kurenai replied.

Sakura stopped her glaring at Ino to look at Kurenai with surprise.

"Flying machine? What kind of flying machine? Is it a jet?" Sakura asked with excitement before a thoughtful expression crossed her face. "No, it can't be a jet since Konoha doesn't have a suitable runway. That rules out everything except..." Sakura paused to release a gasp before she squealed in excitement.

"Except what?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Obviously, it can only be a Jigabachi!" Sakura said with stars in her eyes. "Oh, I hope it's a Jigabachi! Then again it could be a Tilt Rotor, but those are much larger and harder to land. They are also quite rare from what I hear."

"A wasp? How is a wasp going to help us get back to Konoha." Naruto asked in confusion.

"Not a wasp, idiot, a Jigabachi helicopter," Sakura said in a chastising tone before giving him a playful swat on the back of his head. "Seriously, Naruto, how would a wasp help us get back to Konoha?"

Naruto pouted at Sakura. "Why do you think I was so confused? And what is a helicopter?"

Sakura sighed in exasperation. "I swear it's like you purposely forget everything we learned about technology in the Academy," she muttered before explaining.

"A helicopter is a flying machine. It has blades or 'rotors' on the top that spin rapidly enough to create lift by pushing air down like a fan. This allows helicopters to hover in place or move side to side. There is a type of helicopter called a Jigabachi because its shape is the same as a wasp and when it attacks the rear cannon shifts downward like when a wasp stings."

"Oh, well I guess that makes sense," Naruto said while scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed laugh. "I should have guessed it was something like that to get you so excited, Sakura-chan."

"Obviously," Sasuke said with a snort. "Not only did Kurenai mention a flying machine but Sakura did as well. Were you even listening, moron?"

"I was trying to figure out what kind of training I was going to do for the finals, bastard," Naruto replied with a flat expression. "After all, we might be facing each other in the finals."

"I will definitely make it. Who knows about a loser like you." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Oi, don't look down on me, bastard. I'll make it to the finals just so that I can kick your ass _again_." Naruto said before pounding his fist into his other hand.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted dismissively.

Sasuke was confident Naruto would face him in the end, but he would never tell his rival that.

"I can't believe they segregated the kunoichi from the shinobi! How sexist is that?" Tenten complained.

"I know, right?" Ino agreed. "They don't even have the kunoichi fighting in the main field until the championship match."

"Don't even get me started on that ad that was posted before our bracket. Seriously, what kind of kunoichi worries about something as trivial as nails?" Sakura said with a shake of her head.

"Well not all of us are brutes like you are, forehead," Ino said slyly.

"At least I don't give kunoichi a bad name, Ino-pig!" Sakura said with a growl.

"It's not safe for a taijutsu specialist to have nails like that," Hinata interjected. "So please don't fight."

"I tried to keep long nails once. It didn't turn out very well," Tenten said with a grimace.

"I wasn't talking about long ones!" Ino said defensively. "Kurenai-sensei happens to have very nice nails. So it _is_ possible to be stylish yet professional. You guys just didn't try hard enough."

"I stopped caring about that long ago, Ino-pig. Even with prosthetic hands, it isn't feasible for me to worry about them." Sakura said.

"Alright, ladies, that's enough of that," Kurenai said sternly. "There is nothing wrong with trying to present an image. It is a part of our training, after all."

"Right!" Ino said. "And when it comes to beauty, no one has me beat," Ino said with her hands planted on her hips.

"Troublesome women," Shikamaru muttered.

"What was that!?" Ino, Tenten, and Sakura said with a glare towards Shikamaru.

"It's too troublesome to repeat." he replied with his usually lazy expression.

The group reached the entrance to their inn and were called to a stop by Kakashi.

"Okay, listen up." he snapped in an authoritative tone. "Tomorrow morning at 7 am all of those who are competing in the finals are to be packed and ready to go at the temporary training field. The transport will only have room for two genin teams and their sensei."

Kakashi's gaze traveled to Kurenai and Asuma.

"Hokage-sama said that your teams have two days to leave the village or purchase tickets to the finals. If you do decide to stick around, you will still be subjected to surveillance and confined to the foreign quarter, but there will be agents available to escort you to the shopping district if you wish to pick up supplies or souvenirs." Kakashi explained.

"They may not like Konoha but everyone likes our money," Asuma said with a smirk.

"It wouldn't be necessary if they allowed us to come and go as we please, but Hanzo won't allow anyone to leave and return except for the finalists, sensei, and the Hokage's chosen entourage. So, you have 48 hours to decide before they decide to remove you. If you do plan to stay, send a request for enough money for you to live off of for the rest of the month plus a week or two afterward, just to be safe." Kakashi said to the rest of the group.

"How will you bring money to us if you aren't coming back until the finals?" Kiba asked.

He had been so confident of success he hadn't brought enough to last for an entire month. Since only the contestants and finalists were being provided for by the village, he would need to send for more. He knew his mother wouldn't mind him staying to watch.

"Usually, we would take advantage of Jiraiya-sama's summons to deliver messages and scrolls of supplies, but Hanzō has forbidden him or any toads from entering the village. Considering Jiraiya-sama's profession it is understandable." Kakashi answered. "Instead, Itachi has offered the use of his crows for the time being." Kakashi gestured towards the Inn roof and the group could see a half dozen crows staring down at them with glowing red eyes. The crows were tucked underneath the arching clay roof tiles of the inn to avoid the rain.

"Unlike the toads, the crows aren't able to sneak people or groups into the village. They also don't like being used as messengers but Itachi has found a few that have been willing to volunteer their services. So, if you do make a _polite and respectful_ request of the crows, make certain you include everything you need in your request and that it doesn't exceed one medium storage scroll in size. Those are the only crows who volunteered for the duty so make good use of them if you decide to stay because there won't be more coming." Kakashi warned.

When no more questions were forthcoming, Kakashi dismissed the group to their own ends and made a gesture for Team 7 to follow him into the restaurant. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura fell into step behind him and waited for the hostess to seat them. Kakashi signaled them to remain silent when he requested a booth seat instead of the standard corner table.

Most shinobi would never sit inside a contained booth if they could avoid it because poor visibility meant vulnerability. Especially when you were surrounded by rival villages and shinobi. The most requested seats were corner seats that faced every possible entryway into the restaurant. As long as they had eyes on every potential entry and exit point, they would be able to track and respond to any potential threats.

The hostess escorted them to a small walled off booth along the western wall of the restaurant. Once seated the group waited for the waitress to come by and take their orders before they decided to ask the question that was on all of their minds.

"It's a bit early for dinner, isn't it sensei?" Sakura said in a low tone.

"I wanted to discuss the plans for training for the finals while less of the competition was around," Kakashi said quietly before slipping a seal out of one of the pages of his Icha Icha. As he tucked the book into his hip pouch, he quickly planted the silencing seal on the seat rest behind him and activated it with a subtle flare of chakra.

The seal vanished into the seat once activated and the booth was now protected from any external listening devices or jutsu. Seeing the signal from their sensei (putting his precious Icha Icha away) Sasuke was quick to flare his Sharingan to life and cast a subtle genjutsu over the booth to mask their lip movements and project a false conversation for observers to listen to. Sakura followed by flipping a small switch inside one of her pockets to scramble any electronic listening devices that might be planted inside of the booth. Naruto merely sat with his eyes closed in concentration as focused on the chakra signatures around them. He gave the thumbs up when he sensed no agitation in the chakra signatures of their assigned "guards". A sign that they were at ease instead of suspicious.

He had been working on his sensing skills with the help of the Kyūbi recently and had only been practicing those skills for just under a month. It still required a great deal of concentration for him to pick up chakra signatures around the immediate area, but that was significant progress considering how long it had taken him to become fully in tune with his chakra system and body. With that milestone met, the Kyūbi had then introduced him to Reiki (Life force energy) training which all natural sensors were naturally in tune with. With this training, Naruto would eventually be able to determine chakra affinities, reserve levels, and even sense and detect emotions like the Kyūbi did.

While the Kyūbi could have provided this ability to Naruto, the fox hadn't bothered to reveal that truth to him. Instead, the kitsune had decided to see if Naruto could develop that ability on his own, as a sort of test to see how serious his container was about following the path of Ninshu. While most of the current teachings identified Reiki as a different energy source, in truth, Reiki was just a component of chakra itself. It was the main reason that chakra was able to be converted into different forms.

In scientific terms, one would say Reiki was the stem cell of chakra and had both pluripotent and propagation properties. This was how chakra could be converted to any element that existed in nature as well as pure Yin and Yang energy. It was the reason the chakra could be used to grow trees, heal wounds, and regenerate cells. Humans believed that chakra existed in every cell and was necessary for life. In truth, it was only Reiki that existed in every cell and it was only Reiki that was required to sustain life.

The Kyūbi wasn't certain why this knowledge had been lost from the time of his creator. The Rikudo Sennin had been intricately familiar with all aspects of chakra and had taught about reiki when he was spreading the tenants of Ninshu. Since humanity had corrupted and squandered the gift they were given, however, the Kyūbi wouldn't be revealing that knowledge to any human for as long as he existed. He would teach his container how to feel and recognize it but beyond that, he would remain silent. Any other discoveries would have to be made on his own. Given the short lives of humans, he doubted the blond would be able to figure it out before his death.

If he did, then perhaps he was worthy of learning the truth.

"So, what is the plan, sensei?" Sakura asked with a frown.

She knew that Naruto and Sasuke likely had a special sensei lined up for them, considering how much interest the Hokage held for them, but she didn't have the first clue on who would be willing or able to teach her.

"For you, Sakura, I have arranged for Kurenai to take you on for the month. With her team being eliminated, she will have plenty of free time to help you develop your genjutsu talent which has started to fall behind. You might have to deal with a large amount of independent study should her team return to Konoha and start taking C-ranked missions, but I know that wouldn't be a problem for you." Kakashi replied before turning his focus to Naruto.

"As for you, the Hokage has already arranged for another teacher to train you for the month."

"Really?" Naruto said in a surprisingly guarded tone. "I guess I will just have to wait and see if he actually shows up this time," he added with a sneer.

Both Sasuke and Sakura threw him confused glances but decided not to question him about the topic. It was rare when Naruto showed such contempt ever since his personality change, but when it did slip through, it was usually a result of someone touching on a very sensitive topic for the blond.

Kakashi opted to remain silent about Naruto's comment. Speaking of Naruto's absentee godparents only resulted in the blond shutting down and becoming defensive if not outright hostile at times. Kakashi suspected the Sandaime would leave Naruto's training to Jiraiya so that he could inherit the Toad Summoning contract, Fūinjutsu knowledge, and his father's ultimate jutsu, but the Sannin had proven to be quite flaky, at best.

There had been a few times that the Sandaime had scheduled for Jiraiya or Tsunade to meet with Naruto once he had finally learned the truth about his heritage and burden, but both of the wayward Sannin had always backed out at the last minute. The Sandaime had never expected his former students to pull such a cowardly act and had informed Naruto about their impending visits the first few times.

The subject had already been a sore point for Naruto in the first place, who had been furious that he had been essentially abandoned by those who were charged to care for him, but his study in Shōrinji had helped him to let _most_ of that anger go. That didn't mean the blond had forgiven either of them, however, and he made his intent to remain distant from them well known.

After that, the Sandaime had sent more requests without letting Naruto know in the hopes that they could try and salvage their relationship, but neither Tsunade or Jiraiya had managed to muster up the courage to try. Naruto had only asked about them a few more times before he stopped hassling the Sandaime about them.

When pressed by the aged Hokage, Naruto had made it clear to him that he didn't consider them family and never would. In his mind, they had thrown that opportunity away when they abandoned him instead of caring for him as they were charged to do by his parents. If they couldn't be bothered to face him now and apologize, that only meant that they truly held no care or concern for him in their hearts.

In the end, the Sandaime had convinced Naruto to at least allow Jiraiya the opportunity to train him at a later date so he could carry on his father's legacy. It had taken some time, but Naruto had eventually agreed to it. Kakashi suspected the only reason he agreed was to give the Sandaime peace of mind since it was obvious the blond never expected the Toad Sage to follow through.

"As for you, Sasuke, you will be with me and Itachi for the month. We have special plans to help you advance to the next level." Kakashi replied.

Sasuke merely nodded with a small smirk on his face. Knowing that Itachi would be helping only meant that he would be pushed beyond his limits. Kakashi was just a bonus in his eyes as the man had proven to be quite the task master despite his lazy countenance.

Once the waitress had delivered their food and drinks, Team 7 allowed their security measures to fade away. If they kept them up for too long, the chances that they would be detected would continue to grow. They knew that Ame was just itching for a chance to eliminate them from the exams since they had performed so well while Ame had been disgraced. It was for that reason that the Hokage had opted to remove them from Ame for the month since they would likely gather as much intelligence on the competition as they trained while simultaneously trying to antagonize or goad them into a fight so they could be disqualified.

Underhanded, for certain, but they _were_ shinobi.

Team 7 ate their meal with limited, casual conversation before returning to their rooms to prepare for departure. At the moment things were looking bright for the young genin and all of them had felt they were progressing positively towards their goals in the future.


	7. Beta v1,5

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts**_

 _Mental Communications_

[Chat Box/Text communication]

 **Beta v.1.5**

 **February 17** **th,** **2248**

 **A day before Chūnin Exam Finals – Outskirts of Amegakure**

* * *

Through overcast and rainy skies an SATH-29C Jigabachi(1) slows to a hover over a barren, soggy field. Through the sheets of rain pouring from the skies, an industrial looking skyline could be seen in the background with pipes and LED advertisements dominating the gloomy horizon of Ame. The Jigabachi activates its spotlight and searches the field below for several minutes before beginning a careful descent towards the muddy ground. Stopping just short of landing, the side doors of the modified attack helicopter slide open revealing 9 individuals cloaked in white with hoods covering their heads.

With an unseen signal, the figures begin dropping out of the hovering chopper, landing on the ground gracefully before dashing off to a different area of the field to form a perimeter. Once all the passengers disembark, the Jigabachi gains altitude and begins circling for a few moments before it is met by a second SATH-29c Jigabachi. Soon after the arrival of its partner, a pair of heavily armed AAH-29c Jigabachi AV(2) arrive, escorting a white Kane 727(3) helicopter with a large Red circle painted on both sides. Inside of this red circle, the character **火** can be seen emblazoned in black with gold trim, designating this as the personal transport of the Fire Daimyō and his entourage.

The first Jigabachi continues to circle overhead in a protective manner while the other Jigabachi hover in a protective triangle around the white helicopter as it proceeds to land in the field below. Once the Daimyō's chopper has landed, a second Jigabachi follows shortly afterward, landing next to the transport where it deposits its cargo of the Hokage and his own entourage.

Naruto scanned the large lake that flanked the western edge of the field he was currently guarding. While it was unusual for a genin to be assigned the task of guarding the Daimyō's entry into a foreign territory, Kakashi had considered it a good training exercise for them to practice. Especially since the flying machines were only a recent introduction to Hi no Kuni and were quickly becoming a favored means of transportation. Kakashi had pointed out that it wouldn't take long for many of the wealthier clients to begin using transports of this kind instead of the traditional palanquins or carriages.

Sasuke had asked if that meant the elimination of escort missions, to which Kakashi denied. He had gone on to clarify that armed helicopters were not available for purchase to anyone but Konoha or the Daimyō's army. Shinobi would still be needed to guard civilian helicopters against surface to air jutsu and to cover landing zones which were popular areas for enemies to attack.

Naruto was briefly distracted by one of the assault Jigabachi passing overhead and glanced up to see it begin scanning the water with its spotlight. He had to admit that he was still nervous around the advanced war machines that were mostly AI controlled. While the one they had flown in on was still piloted by a person, the rest of the heavily armed ones escorting the Daimyō were AI controlled. Most of their orders and movements were relayed and monitored by androids who followed instruction from the pilot of the lead Jigabachi or the commanding officer of the Daimyō's protection detail.

Sakura had gone on at length explaining the details of how the machines were controlled and the various fail-safes that were implemented, but it didn't really comfort him very much. Even if the officer was watching through satellite footage and the external cameras, he still had to relay his orders to an android who was operating the machine. Naruto would be the first to admit that he wasn't a technical expert, but even he knew there were constant security updates to prevent hackers from invading people's cyberbrains. That knowledge didn't leave much room for faith.

No matter how much Sakura tried to reassure him that it was much harder to defeat AI defenses because of their superior programming capabilities and response times. Naruto was certain that if there were people capable of hacking a person's cyberbrain, then it was equally possible that _someone_ was capable of hacking an AI brain.

He couldn't deny the fact that his initial fear of machinery had given way to exhilaration during his first flight home on the high tech helicopter. It probably helped that their ride hadn't been AI controlled, but it had still been a scary concept to fly through the air in a metal container that was held aloft by thin, metal blades.

While the flight wasn't uncomfortable by any means, he had still felt unease at being so far up from the ground at the start. After several minutes of Sakura attempting to calm him with her excited technobabble and a few taunts from Sasuke, Naruto had managed to calm himself down enough to enjoy the ride home in comfort. When Sakura had shown him how to access the external cameras through his data pad, he had to admit the view was nice. It was also a very convenient method of travel. Instead of having to travel for several days and camp out in the forest, they made it home in just five hours.

Naruto watched the AI controlled chopper warily as it investigated the lake and some of the floating debris Naruto had spotted and written off as inconsequential. After hovering over towards another log tangled in some flotsam and studying it with its spotlight for a few moments, the machine apparently recognized there was no threat and gained altitude before buzzing over to a cluster of trees that was 200 yards away. As Naruto turned his attention back to his watch area, his mind began to drift back to the start of his month-long training in Konoha.

 **Flashback January 20** **th,** **2248**

 **Training Ground 5 – Outskirts of Konoha**

* * *

Naruto yawned as he sat waiting at the training ground the Hokage had told him to meet with his trainer. The training ground was every Suiton user's dream as it was set near a small ridge that had a waterfall spilling into a moderate sized pool. The water then branched off into a pair of rivers that framed the training ground. The ground itself was fairly moist from the constant spray floating off of the waterfall and there were several large boulders scattered around the edges.

When Naruto spotted the waterfall, he was tempted to summon a group of clones to work on cutting it with Fūton chakra just to refresh his elemental manipulation. He didn't really need to since he had mastered it already, but he was getting bored and hated wasting his time. While the old man hadn't specified that Jiraiya would be meeting with him, Naruto suspected it was another one of his attempts to establish some form or relationship with the man who had abandoned him.

Naruto returned to his sensory training to help calm himself but it was a bit difficult considering the ball of negative emotions inside of him. While he had made a great deal of progress in purging his hatred and bitterness, he still had trouble when it came to Tsunade and Jiraiya. Just the mention of them caused him to tense up and, try as he might, he couldn't find it in himself to simply forgive them. Especially when they refused to meet with him or even be bothered to send a letter to apologize for leaving him to the wolves.

Jiraiya earned a chance to make it up to him since the man had not only paid for most of his expenses but had also sent him a few personal gifts as he was growing up. While he still considered it a part of Jiraiya's responsibilities to provide for him in some way, the blond was still thankful the bastard had _at least_ fulfilled that part of his obligation. Naruto knew his life would have been much worse without that extra iryō to pay for food and utilities.

The only reason Naruto was still giving the man a chance, despite him flaking out on meeting with him, was because of the personal gifts the Sannin had sent him. In Naruto's eyes, the gifts weren't a part of the Toad Sage's obligations to him as a godfather, so he would give the man a bit more leeway in making up for his neglect.

Naruto hadn't received much as a child. The Hokage had only taken him out to eat or given him gifts that were necessary for his advancement in the Academy or as a shinobi. All of his leisurely gifts had apparently come from Jiraya and, surprisingly, Kakashi.

He didn't hold a grudge against his sensei for remaining distant. Not only had the masked Jōnin been in his mid teens when Naruto was a child, he had also been an Anbu operative during that time. Even if the silver haired Jōnin had been trained by his father, Kakashi wasn't obligated to care for him in any way. Naruto also gave Kakashi some consideration for watching over him as a child; even if the bastard had mainly annoyed him or always foiled his escape plans after a prank. Naruto knew that Kakashi had been watching him set up and execute the pranks, but the dog masked operative had never stopped him unless he was doing something inherently dangerous to himself or others.

Naruto felt out his chakra system and began delving deeper to connect to the reiki inside of him. Setting aside his annoyance and resentment, he began to feel the energy within him. Once he felt that connection was solid, he began to expand his reach outward. Slowly he began to sense the world around him.

First, the grass beneath him came into his mental view. From there it spread to the nearby tree he was meditating under. After that, his progress began to speed up as his reiki connected with the reiki flowing through the trees, spreading through the root systems and the canopy above him. As Naruto attuned himself to the base energy of the plants, he began to pick up the energy of smaller lifeforms.

A line of ants carrying water from the river to their colony nearby. 50m behind him was a thriving beehive inside of a hollowed out log. Above the hive, there were a group of squirrels chasing each other through the trees, below them a family of rabbits was hidden in their den. A passing breeze stirred lose a few dying leaves within his sensory range, the movement drawing the attention of his inner eye as he focused on the fading life energy within them. As the leaves began to fall towards the ground, Naruto was able to lock onto the chakra signature of a deer grazing on some grass 120m to his right. Focusing in on the deer, Naruto began to study the deer's chakra signature closely while letting everything else fade slightly.

Naruto knew he needed to be able to lock onto chakra signatures without spreading his reiki throughout the foliage around him, but the Kyūbi refused to give him any tips or tricks to improve his sensory skill. Until the blond had mastered the basic exercise (or figured out the short cuts on his own) he was stuck on the first stage of sensor training.

As Naruto studied the deer closely with his mind's eye, he began to detect the age and chakra affinities of the subject he was focused on. The first thing his senses picked up was the strong and vibrant life energy radiating from this particular herbivore. This indicated that the deer was likely an adolescent or young adult. As Naruto studied the chakra system in the deer, he was surprised to find an unknown chakra affinity flowing through the deer's chakra system. It took him some time to puzzle out what that unfamiliar chakra was but eventually he identified it as Mokuton due to the presence of both Doton and Suiton chakra within the deer's chakra.

It was highly unusual for anything to have more than two affinities, even humans. The only exception to this was a bloodline that gave you access to a sub-element (like Mokuton) or through years of training. Even through training, it was extremely rare to raise an unaligned element to match a natural affinity. Typically, a trained element never grew stronger than a minor natural affinity, even after years of dedicated training.

Naruto fixated on the deer for a significant amount of time, committing the feel of Mokuton chakra to memory. Even if the bloodline had been lost to Konoha, it wouldn't hurt to memorize the sensation of every possible elemental combination. Better to be able to recognize it than to be caught off guard if someone did manage to manifest it in the future. While the Kyūbi _might_ help him identify unfamiliar chakra, there was no guarantee that the fox would.

Naruto knew the Kyūbi was keeping secrets from him but he wasn't too bothered by that fact. He knew the bijū didn't trust him completely and the feeling was mutual.

Once Naruto was confident he had memorized the Mokuton signature, he began to study a nearby bird that caught his attention. Before he could delve deeper into the bird's signature, a very familiar, and large, chakra presence entered his sensing range. Naruto couldn't help but study the Hokage's signature in awe as the old shinobi approached.

The first time he had tapped into his reiki successfully, and began sensing his surroundings, his training had been interrupted by a visit from the aged Hokage. The reiki in the old shinobi had been dim, due to his age, but his chakra signature had been amazingly potent. Not only were the old man's reserves fairly large still, he also had a perfect balance of each element flowing through his chakra system.

Even the Kyūbi had been impressed that the old man had managed to perfect each element to such a degree.

Naruto sighed to himself as this only confirmed his suspicion that Jiraiya wouldn't show. If he had, the old man would have only sent a clone along with his "godfather". The fact that he was coming in person could only mean he was going to try and sooth things over with him once more. He knew the old man felt guilty that his godparents had flaked out on him. That guilt had only been compounded when he had arranged for several meet ups only for them both to cancel at the last minute.

Naruto stood up and brushed the seat of his pants off while waiting for the Hokage to approach him. He could already see the sorrow and disappointment in the wizened shinobi's face, but knew it wasn't directed at him. If he hadn't been in a meditative state recently, he might be more agitated or angered. Instead, he found himself feeling a bit of resignation along with his calm state.

"So, jiji, I guess I am on my own for this month, eh?" Naruto said as the Hokage stood in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but this time, I must take responsibility. Jiraiya _was_ going to come today but I had to send him to confirm some troubling information I have received." the Sandaime said with a sigh. "I know you will find it difficult to believe, given past events, but he truly was going to fulfill his obligation to you this time."

"Uh huh, if you say so jiji," Naruto said, completely unconvinced. "Well, I guess I should get started then. I can't afford to waste any time."

"Hold a moment, Naruto." the Hokage said as Naruto moved to leave the training ground.

Naruto stopped and turned to look back over his shoulder at the Hokage.

"I have some things here that should help you for the next two weeks." The Hokage pulled out a thick scroll from his robes and tossed it toward Naruto. "I would also like to help you during that time as well, to make up for the failings of my students."

"I'd be grateful for that jiji," Naruto said with a smile as he turned around. "But, why only two weeks?"

"Because Jiraiya should return during that time and spend the final weeks passing along some of his knowledge." The Sandaime answered.

Naruto simply nodded in response.

"I know you have been focusing on your taijutsu primarily before the start of the exams and working through the early stages of Doton and Katon manipulation. Considering you are facing both a Suiton and Doton user in your first match, I think it is pertinent you put more focus into improving those elements so you have greater flexibility." Hiruzen stated.

Naruto nodded and created his usual 60 clones before they all awaited instructions patiently. The Hokage created four clones of his own to guide the various groups before he began laying out his training plan for the day.

"I want 10 of your clones to go with this first clone to work on a Suiton exercise that I think will help you advance your sensory skills that have begun to develop." The Sandaime said. "While meditation has helped to awaken that skill, there is a trick the Nidaime used regarding Suiton to fine tune his own skills. I think you will greatly benefit from it and should be able to master it quickly."

Naruto blinked a few times before nodding and a group of clones broke off to follow the Hokage's clone. While the Hokage didn't know the truth about how his sensing ability came to be (a subject Naruto had promised the Kyūbi would remain secret), Naruto had informed him and Kakashi that he was starting to be able to pick up chakra flares and signatures at an increasing rate.

"Next, I want 20 clones to follow these two here to oversee the chakra manipulation exercises for Doton and Katon." The Hokage said with a gesture towards the clones on his right. "Finally, the rest of your clones should go with my last clone to begin learning a few Doton and Katon jutsu I think you should be able to master quickly."

After the clones all left to their designated tasks, Naruto asked. "What about me, jiji?"

The Hokage gave him a mischievous smirk which caused Naruto to start worrying. This was a smirk that he knew promised painful and difficult training.

"Tell me, Naruto, does your taijutsu scroll mention any weapons to learn?" The Sandaime said with a knowing tone.

Naruto nodded. "They mentioned something called a Shakujō but no one really knew what that meant when I checked the different weapons shops. I also looked on LATTICE but there was no information on them. Since no one knew about them, I didn't bother reading the scroll any further."

"That is because the shakujō wasn't really known for being a weapon but an instrument of prayer." The Sandaime answered before his smirk grew. "but it is essentially a bō with an ornamental head attached to the top and sometimes on the bottom as well."

Naruto blinked stupidly for a few moments as he took that information in before face palming. He should have been able to make the connection considering the principals of non-violence behind the style. He groaned as he realized that if he had bothered to read the scroll detailing the instruments of prayer he would have been able to figure that out on his own. He would have to review that at home after dinner.

The Sandaime chuckled at Naruto's reaction.

"So, the question I need to ask you now is, are you serious about learning to use that weapon, or is it merely a result of your fascination with the principals of Shōrinji Ken?" The Sandaime asked.

"I'll admit at first, I was only interested because the next step in the training routine was to focus heavily on the shakujō," Naruto answered. "When it told me to refer to the religious rituals and prayer tools, I didn't bother to investigate further beyond asking around or looking it up online."

"What about now?" The Sandaime pressed.

"I know I need to learn some kind of weapon," Naruto replied with a frown. "When we faced off against that Kumo team, it was difficult for me to keep that Kenjutsu specialist off of me and while the Shōrinji style does have kata and techniques for using daggers, they aren't geared around defending against something like a sword."

"I may not know the specifics on how to use a shakujō, but I certainly know my way around a bō." The Sandaime said with a glint in his eye. "It _is_ my specialty after all."

Now Naruto understood why the old man had given him that grin of pain earlier. He was essentially going to be beaten into the ground with a long stick for the next two weeks.

There was no way he was going to throw away this opportunity, though. No matter how much it was going to hurt in the beginning.

 **Flashback End**

* * *

As he had expected, the old man had firmly reminded him why he was made the Hokage _twice_. If it weren't for the Kyūbi healing his body, he would have been in the hospital for most of his training time due to fractures, breaks, and concussions. He had advanced quickly with the help of the Sandaime and having a large group of clones practice kata and sparring, but he knew he still had a long way to go before he could simply challenge a sword wielder with his staff alone. He was good enough to defend himself to the point that he could push them back and create an opening, but if he didn't break away quickly, they would eventually overwhelm him. Since he wasn't proficient with a staff, Naruto decided it would be best to avoid using one in the finals unless he had no other choice.

Showing anything less than full proficiency in bōjutsu would only hinder his chances of promotion, after all.

His Doton and Katon had advanced nicely as well during that time, allowing him to learn a few more Doton and one more Katon jutsu despite his weak affinity towards them both. With his increasing control over his chakra, he now could effectively use the jutsu without wasting chakra. He had also started progress on his Raiton chakra and managed to learn a single Raiton jutsu before the training period ended.

His greatest area of growth, however, had been his sensory skill. By learning the Nidaime's trick of drawing upon the humidity in the air and surrounding plant life to generate water, he came to a realization that he could use his Suiton and Fūton affinity to cast a "sensory net" over his surroundings. This process was immensely faster than spreading his reiki through the living things around him. With that newfound knowledge, his skill in sensing had increased dramatically. He no longer needed to cast a net to pick up signatures that held chūnin level chakra reserves or higher within 75m. He could also make an educated guess about their age and health by their reiki levels. With his sensory net active, and a bit of focus, he could accurately sense even the faintest chakra signatures within 300m.

He had also managed to learn some basic fūinjutsu seals and the Rasengan when Jiraiya had finally shown up two weeks later. The meeting had been quite uncomfortable for both Naruto and the Sannin considering the circumstances. Naruto had been quite defensive and distant from Jiraiya throughout the whole period. Jiraiya had tried to get Naruto to warm up to him a bit but it had proven to be difficult since they didn't have very much in common.

The first problem lied with Naruto's inability to grasp fūinjutsu easily, unlike his father and mother. While Naruto had advanced in his patience and tactical thinking, the complex and obscure concepts behind sealing were also highly technical. To fully understand how master level seals behaved, you needed to be proficient with physics and mathematics to some degree. The only other way to learn sealing was to brute force the knowledge through copying, repetition, and trial and error.

The latter method being how Jiraiya had managed to learn the style by his own admission.

While Jiraiya _admitted_ he hadn't been the smartest tool in the shed in his younger years, his dedication and enjoyment of the obscure art of sealing ensured that he eventually became a master. Jiraiya also admitted that most of his advanced knowledge in the arts came from the few lessons he had managed to get from Mito Uzumaki. The rest of his knowledge had come from Naruto's mother, Kushina, who had been taught in the traditional Uzumaki school before being sent to Konoha to contain the Kyūbi.

Naruto, however, wasn't as enthused about the style. He had looked it up in the past on LATTICE so he could learn how to make his own explosive tags and the process had been both trying and boring to him. Knowing that explosive tags were considered introductory level seals, he had been put off by the style completely. In fact, Naruto had turned Jiraiya down when he first tried to teach him sealing until the Sannin had revealed how much both of his parents studied fūinjutsu religiously. After that revelation, Naruto had resigned himself to learn the obscure art as a matter of principal.

The Hiraishin was entirely based on sealing and was a part of his father's legacy. To let his father's trademark ability fade into history because of his distaste for Fūinjutsu seemed like a crime to him.

Naruto also felt he owed it to his mother as the last known Uzumaki. With the Uzumaki being known for their prowess in sealing, he needed to be proficient at the very least. He wouldn't bother with the advanced or mastery level sealing beyond the fundamentals necessary for teaching. With the fundamentals, he could pass that knowledge on and let his children advance the art further if they decided to pursue such a path.

Maybe after he had finished all of his elemental manipulation training and had a healthy library of jutsu to use, he would redirect his clones to sealing exclusively.

With only two weeks to learn the complicated art, Naruto hadn't made a great deal of progress; even with a generous use of clones. He had only completed learning the basic and intermediate seal arrangements, symbols, and a few basic seals like storage, explosive, absorption, and weight seals. Jiraiya had expected Naruto to take to the style like both of his parents. The sannin had expected the teen to cast aside his other training in favor of mastering sealing exclusively like Minato had. Instead, Naruto only assigned a third of his usual clones to practice his calligraphy and sealing while the rest continued practicing with the bō, Doton, and Katon manipulation.

Naruto wouldn't have written a single seal with his own hand if Jiraiya hadn't required him to personally demonstrate his progress at the end of each training session.

The blond knew that Fūinjutsu required a great deal of time, practice, and dedicated focus. In order for him to make real progress, he would have to abandon the training and workout schedule he needed to keep his taijutsu in top form. With the amount of growth and benefit he had received from that schedule, he wasn't inclined to drop any portion of it until he had mastered the style completely. For now, he was satisfied to practice some sealing during his evening down time or when Jiraiya had him focusing on it during their training sessions.

The second problem Naruto had with Jiraiya was entirely due to how the Toad Sage behaved during their training sessions. Unlike the Sandaime or Kakashi who were always on hand during training sessions, Jiraiya would only stick around when it came to sealing lessons. If it was jutsu, like the Rasengan, he would simply explain the jutsu once, provide a demonstration and then leave Naruto to his own devices. Sometimes Jiraiya would remain nearby, writing into his notebook while giggling like an idiot. Other times, Naruto would notice him sneaking off to spy on the waterfall or hot springs that were _conveniently_ near the training ground the Sannin had chosen. Considering that both locations were highly popular with the villagers for swimming or bathing, it didn't take a genius to figure out what his godfather was up to.

That had lowered his opinion of the Sennin even further.

Naruto could understand the value of letting someone figure things out on their own. Kakashi often did the same thing, but the lazy jōnin always stood nearby and watched or left a clone to observe and answer questions. Even though his nose was stuck in that perverted book for the majority of the training session, Naruto knew that Kakashi was still observing.

For only having one eye exposed, the bastard was amazingly observant of his surroundings at all times.

To Naruto, it was just another indicator that Jiraiya didn't really care to be in his presence. Instead, the perverted old man would rather violate women's privacy to get his rocks off before writing down his fantasies in a smutty book.

While Naruto could admit to being curious and appreciative of the feminine form, (He was going through puberty after all) the thought of spying on a woman during her private moments seemed _wrong_ to him. He certainly didn't want a person to watch him while he was bathing.

With the use of clones, Naruto had managed to learn the Rasengan in just under 12 days time. It had pleased him to see the old pervert sputter in disbelief at how fast he had mastered his father's ultimate finishing move.

When the end of his training time came with Jiraiya, Naruto decided to remain coolly polite with the Sannin. Since he still needed to learn the fundamentals of fūinjutsu and sign the Toad contract to follow in his father's footsteps, it wouldn't do to blow the man off entirely. Plus, Naruto was certain he would have to fulfill some kind of training in the use of Toads during combat, and only Jiraiya could provide first-hand knowledge in that regard.

The only reason he hadn't signed the contract already was because of Hanzō's ban on Toads in particular.

Both Naruto and Jiraiya had agreed that it would be better for him to focus on the exams first before preparing for any potential trial the Toads might put him through. Jiraiya had explained how both himself and his father had been subjected to a month-long trial that was quite arduous, so it was only to be expected that Naruto would be forced to endure something similar. The Sannin had set a date a few months after the Chūnin exams to present the scroll to him to sign so he would have time to prepare for the trial. Naruto wasn't about to hold his breath but kept his skepticism silent.

At the end of the month, the Sandaime and Jiraiya had bid him farewell with a few useful gifts he was truly grateful for.

The first was a shakujō the old man had ordered for him for reaching the finals in the Chūnin exams. The components for the weapon and the designs for the metal components had been customized by the Sandaime and was based on an old painting of the Buddhist monks at the Fire Temple with a few personal touches

The staff was made out of a rare tree from the swampy areas of Mori no Kuni (Land of Forests) called Yamiwood. This particular dark wood was undisputed as being the toughest wood in Genso no Kuni. Yamiwood was notoriously difficult to cut, easily capable of withstanding any bladed weaponry. Even wind-enhanced blades wouldn't be capable of causing anything more than small cuts. If a person channeled Doton chakra into the wood, however, it became _impossible_ to damage through any means.

The wood for the staff was just shy of six feet tall and the wood grain fit the standard for Yamiwood. A beautiful black hue with a few scattered groupings of reddish-orange lines and dots running along the length of the staff.

Topping each end of the staff were the standard ornamentations for a shakujō but with a modern twist. Instead of the standard steel or iron typically used by shinobi, a new alloy of steel, chakra metal, and tungsten was used. This gave the metal ornaments a dark gray sheen that reflected less light than steel but was stronger and more resistant to jutsu than iron.

The ornamental head was in the shape of a crescent moon with the points facing straight up and engraved with a motif of flames on the bottom half of the moon to represent the Will of Fire. Where the points met at the top was a round orb with the impression of the Uzumaki swirl engraved on both sides. Inside the large crescent moon was the symbol of Konoha facing straight up with the stem of the leaf touching the staff and the leaf tip connecting to the Uzumaki orb. On each side of the leaf, there were four large rings wrapped in leather, that hung from the crescent moon. The rings helped with trapping blades and spears so that Naruto could disarm his opponents. With the right leverage, he could even snap standard katana or naginata with ease. Finishing off the decorations on the staff was a simple metal end cap with a matching Uzumaki orb.

The Sandaime had mentioned that rings were wrapped in leather to reduce the sound they would generate, even if they were traditionally intended to make noise as the monk walked. At first, the Hokage had considered leaving them out, but he opted to leave them in to make the gift more authentic. He wasn't certain if Naruto would have been willing to learn how to use the staff or shakujō as a weapon. Most shinobi opted for chokuto or ninjato nowadays. Weapons like the bō, naginata, and yari were falling to the wayside ever since the Second Shinobi War. Even the kusarigama had lost popularity as it took a great deal of hard work and time to master the sickled chain.

Judging from the way Naruto was clinging to it excitedly with stars in his eyes, he had made the right decision in the end.

Jiraiya gave him a scroll on how to use the Shikoku Fūin (Finger Carving Seal) so Naruto could engrave his own seals into his bracers, shin guards, and even his leather pouches. He noted it _might_ work on his shakujō if he was to use Katon chakra instead of regular chakra while having a clone fan the chakra with Fūton but in the end, he recommended sticking with regular ink. Even if it meant having to rewrite the seals regularly.

Jiraiya also gave Naruto a few books. One was the Tale of the Utterly Gusty Shinobi, and the second one was an old notebook that belonged to the Yondaime. It was filled with jutsu, jutsu theories, and seals Minato had made while he was on Jiraiya's genin team.

Naruto was truly grateful for his father's notebook and the scroll, thanking Jiraiya sincerely. While the blond wasn't sure what to think of the storybook he was given, it didn't sound like a book of smut so he would give it a chance.

Naruto heard the all clear ring out through his ear piece and moved back towards the chopper convoy to regroup with his team. As he drew closer to the convoy, he saw that the Daimyō had been loaded on a palanquin and the rest of his entourage were protected by a canopy being carried by guards or servants. The Hokage followed behind the Daimyō holding a large umbrella to shield himself from the rain. With him was a pair of Anbu operatives, the only guards he was allowed for the event.

Naruto fell in line with the rest of his team behind the Hokage and followed the procession into the village. Once they reached the foreign quarter, they were met with Ame Anbu and team of diplomats who then led the Daimyō and the Hokage toward the center of the village where the upper-class hotels and shops were located.

Team 7 and 10, however, were ordered to return to their rooms at the inn. With the finals starting tomorrow and the influx of foreigners entering Ame today, security was extra tight. Without their usual "guards" to escort them, they weren't allowed to leave the quarter without being disqualified.

The Konoha finalists (including Kurenai) met up with Team 8 who had all decided to stay and watch the finals. Team 10 had apparently departed shortly after the 2nd stage ended in order to get more training done. Asuma had been pretty disappointed with their performance against Team 7 and had decided that he needed to push for more training instead of focusing on missions like he had after his team left the Academy.

Over lunch, Kiba and Hinata filled the others in on the sights they had seen when they visited the merchant area under escort. While most of the merchants were pleasant, the rest of the village was still quite hostile. There wasn't much available in Ame that you couldn't acquire in Konoha besides exotic fish, water flora, and ornate metal work.

Kiba tried to press both finalist teams for information about their training but neither group gave anything away. Considering the fact that they could all be facing each other in the final match, it wasn't a particularly wise idea to begin recounting all they had learned this past month.

After lunch was finished, the teams went back to the room to relax or make any last minute preparations. Naruto began to flip through his father's notebook until dinnertime. Afterward, he ran through his usual evening routine before heading to bed early to ensure he was well rested for the Finals.

In the shadows of the skyscrapers, a shadowy group began to set its plans into motion. Tomorrow, they would reveal themselves to the world and push their agenda forward. With all the major political figures of Genso no Kuni gathered in one place, it was the perfect time to strike and bring down the corrupted political system. The Genso no Kuni would be cleansed of corruption and the world would be sent a message.

 **February 18** **th,** **2248**

 **Chūnin Exams Stage 3 – Poseidon Global Dome**

* * *

The center field had been greatly modified in the past month. Instead of the regular field having potted plants and barrels of water like in the second stage, the field was now had a dynamic layout.

The announcer had explained, in detail, how the field was now capable of shifting through different types of terrain with the whole field capable of changing completely in less than 10 minutes. The field was divided into 9 large tiles that were 5 square yards in size and 6 cubic yards thick. Each tile was able to rise up, drop down, or slide in any direction through an automated system of magnetic rails and telescoping robotic arms.

Grass, ice, water, dirt, or even custom made terrain could be applied to the various sections of the arena in just a few minutes. Each landscaped layer secured underground through a system of interlocking tiles that are connected to various magnetic tracks. As a result, the bowels of the dome almost ran deeper than the arena stood in height to accommodate the various field types. The terrain inside each tile was kept intact by thin metal walls and a sliding lid that opened from the center. The lid would remain magnetically sealed until the tile was locked in place on the main floor. Once locked into place, the lid of the tile would slide open rapidly, taking less than 6 seconds to reveal the hidden terrain contained within.

As the announcer explained the technical specifications of the center field, the crowd was treated to a demonstration of different patterns of tile replacement as well as various terrains that would be used on the battlefield. So far, Naruto had seen a typical desert tile, a tile of nothing but water, a grassy meadow type tile, a barren rocky tile, and even a tile that looked like a fancy garden for some reason. Maybe it had been intended for Kusa ninja who were known to utilize flower style jutsu, but none of them had succeeded in passing the 1st exam.

" **Announcing the 1** **st** **Finalist: Shizuka from Nadeshiko Village!"** the announcer called out.

A platform rose up in the upper left-hand corner revealing a green eyed kunoichi with long black hair tied in a high ponytail, two chin length bangs framing her face and hime cut bangs over her forehead, covering her hitai-ate.

She was wearing the traditional outfit of Nadeshiko: a blue strapless leotard over a pair of tight gray pants. Over the leotard was a gray asymmetrical top with large circular cutouts over the chest and lower back area. The top had a short sleeve on the right arm with a purple armored shoulder pad while her right hand had a wrist length glove. The left arm was sleeveless with a bicep length glove. On her waist was a large red obi used to secure her ninjato. She had the standard kunai pouch on her right thigh and white combat wrap securing her gray combat sandals on her feet.

There was some polite applause and some cheering as she made her appearance.

" **Announcing the 2** **nd** **Finalist: Sakura from Konoha!"** the announcer called out.

Naruto cheered wildly as Sakura appeared on the upper right-hand corner tile.

There was some booing and jeering from the crowd but there was also a great deal of loud cheering. While the stadium itself wasn't completely full, the sections reserved for Konoha ticket holders were already filled with spectators.

" **Announcing the 3** **rd** **Finalist: Mitsuki from Suna!"** the announcer called out.

The lower left-hand corner tile rose up and revealed a kunoichi with short blue hair in a pixie cut. Her eyes were light blue and she wore a dark blue battle kimono over a kusari body suit. On her feet were regular geta sandals and her hands had no gloves. She had several scrolls held in a large pouch on her lower back and a kunai holster strapped to her thigh.

Mitsuki received a tepid welcome from the crowd for the most part. There were a few people cheering from the Suna section, but there weren't many people seated there yet. Naruto felt kind of bad for the lack of support but at least they didn't boo and jeer her like the did with Sakura.

" **Announcing the 4** **th** **Finalist: Haku from Kiri!"** the announcer called out.

The lower right-hand corner tile rose up and revealed a kunoichi that was wearing a hunter-nin mask with the Kiri symbol engraved on the forehead. The mask was solid white with narrow eye slits and two red stripes. One stripe came in from the right cheek creating a swirl around the nose portion of the mask, the second strip framed the left chin and curved up over the left cheek.

The kunoichi had long dark hair tied up in a covered white bun and long front bangs tied with small white tape to weigh them down. She had a short sleeved teal haori over a thick dark green woolen turtleneck and calf-length dark green hakama with standard wooden geta on her feet. Around her waist was a long trailing moss green sash.

The Kiri kunoichi received an even colder welcome from the crowd. Not only were there very few people sitting in the Kiri section, the amount of seats reserved for the island village was far smaller than any of the "big five" shinobi villages. Naruto wondered if they would start scalping those tickets to Ame residents before the Shinobi finals or if Kiri just simply had no interest in watching their kunoichi comrade.

It wouldn't be the first village that had displayed sexism towards the female counterpart to shinobi.

The four kunoichi stared each other down while the proctor explained the rules. When he received a confirmation nod from each of the contestants, the proctor backed away to a safe distance before calling the match to start.

Shizuka immediately turned towards Sakura and unleashed a flurry of kunai using Nadeshiko-Ryū Shinku Enbu (Nadeshiko-Style Deep Crimson Dance Performance) she quickly turned and sent another barrage towards Haku and Mitsuki to keep them at bay before turning her focus back on to Sakura.

Sakura dashed away from the first barrage before pulling out two kunai to deflect the projectiles as she charged towards Shizuka. Sakura knew that Shizuka was taking things a bit personally since Sakura had eliminated her teammate Kimiko quite rapidly during her semi-final match. Sakura put a burst of chakra into her legs and began sprinting towards Shizuka at full speed while dodging and weaving through kunai. Reaching behind her, Sakura tapped the top button twice to get six shuriken before whipping them forward to deflect another wave of kunai.

Haku had been preparing to stand back and pick off a target with her senbon, but she was forced to dodge when Shizuka sent a wave of kunai towards her. With her speed, it was easy to avoid the attacks. Spotting a water tile nearby, she dashed towards the tile before flipping through a long chain of hand seals for Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon). Knowing the water tile could disappear at some point, Haku planned to lace the other tiles with pools of water for her to use later on in the fight. It might be pointless if they switched the entire field soon, but the ice wielder figured she had some time before that would occur. The advantage to having water scattered throughout the battlefield was too great to ignore. If they replaced all the tiles later, she would just have to fall back to her sealed water scrolls. Seeing Mitsuki unraveling a few scrolls, Haku decided to try and stop the Suna kunoichi's plan by sending the water dragon in her direction. Even if it failed to stop whatever she was planning, the water would settle over a good portion of the field.

Mitsuki had unraveled her scrolls and began summoning her fleet of puppets after rolling out of the way of the kunai sent in her direction. While her puppets weren't as complex or powerful as most puppeteers, they made up for their vulnerability with speed and numbers. It also helped that most enemies viewed her puppets as "cute" and underestimated them until it was too late.

She managed to summon her flock of one and a half foot long Desert Wrens and a group of Bobcats that were only three feet long, at most. Right after she finished summoning her standard combat puppets, she spotted the water dragon speeding towards her. With a twitch of her left hand and a few subtle finger movements, her flock of twelve wrens flapped their wings rapidly sending a barrage of wind bursts towards the dragon. The narrow gusts of wind began to chip away at the water jutsu causing it to start destabilizing before it collapsed several feet in front of Mitsuki.

Seeing that Shizuka was now engaged with the pink haired Konoha chick, Mitsuki decided to take advantage of their distracted state to try and eliminate them both. Sending her wrens towards the dueling duo, she sent the six bobcat puppets charging towards Haku with her other hand to keep the Kiri-nin at a distance.

Sakura had managed to close the distance before Shizuka could move into her Enbu: Ni no Dan (Dance Performance: Second Step). The girls exchanged a flurry of punches and kicks as they tried to break through each other's guard and land a power hit to eliminate their opponent. Shizuka was the first one to find an opening and used her Nadeshiko-Ryū Kōha Reppūken (Nadeshiko-Style Hardliner Gale Fist) towards Sakura's solar plexus. Sakura barely managed to deflect part of the blow to avoid getting struck in her vulnerable torso. Instead, the wind enhanced punch landed on her shoulder and sent Sakura spinning back away from Shizuka.

Before the Nadeshiko kunoichi could capitalize on her advantage, she was forced to use Kawarimi when a flock of bird puppets came out of nowhere and began dive-bombing and swooping around her. Even after replacing herself with a nearby tree branch, the wrens were quickly upon her, swooping and diving around her randomly making it difficult for her to dodge or retaliate. The wrens were slashing into her body and arms with wind enhanced claws and stabbing at vital points with beaks that were slightly thicker than a trio of senbon bound together. The movements of the wrens were blindingly fast and sporadic, appearing as nothing more than blurs of black, brown, and white.

Shizuka leaped back out of the tree, crashing through the branches carelessly in an attempt to escape the whirlwind of beak and claw before something vital was struck. Shizuka landed roughly and rolled backward to create some distance. As the wrens advanced towards her once more, the Nadeshiko kunoichi leapt backward to force the wrens to cluster closer together before launching into her Enbu: Ni no Dan (Dance Performance: Second Step), spinning rapidly while sending out flurries of kunai and shuriken around her in an attempt to destroy all the birds attacking her.

Sakura took advantage of the break in combat to run a quick diagnostic on her arm. Finding no reports of damage, she quickly healed her wounds and began planning her next move while she had the chance. Before she returned her cyberbrain into autistic mode (all wireless and networking functionality disabled) she noticed that two of her opponents still had their wireless connections active. Inwardly, Sakura smirked at their idiocy before she set to work hacking their cyberbrains. As that was taking place, Sakura flipped through hand seals and began layering a few subtle genjutsu on each of the kunoichi she was facing while they were distracted.

Mitsuki frowned as she lost several of her wrens to Shizuka's attack before she managed to pull them back. Only four of the wrens that were struck had broken apart to avoid permanent damage, as intended. three of her wrens were seriously damaged and would likely need extensive repairs. Seeing Sakura moving in on Shizuka again, Mitsuki decided to put her full focus onto the bobcats attacking Haku. Her right hand began moving through rapid gestures and finger movements while her left hand began to slowly draw the wrens back and reassemble the puppets that were salvageable. She would wait for the Konoha kunoichi to give her another opening for a sneak attack before sending her precious birds in again.

The cats had blurred towards Haku at blistering speed before launching wind enhanced claw attacks towards the Kiri ninja. The cat's method of attack was similar to the wrens in which they would dash around the target in random patterns before attacking. Unlike the birds, however, the cats had more sophisticated attack patterns. One-half would attack low, clawing and biting with wind enhanced claws and Doton enhanced jaws. The other half would leap into the air and use Fūton chakra to launch themselves downward at blinding speeds to lash out with their claws and try to grip onto their target.

While Mitsuki's focus had been on Shizuka, the cats had attacked in an easily decipherable pattern that Haku picked up quickly. She had managed to disable a few cats by pinning them with several tight groupings of senbon, but the cats were very fast and highly agile.

Haku slowly made her way towards the center of the arena to try and lure the cats into a position where she could eliminate them all, but that plan fell short as the cats had hampered her movements for too long. With Mitsuki's full focus on her now, it became twice as difficult to evade and counter the cats. The simple pattern that the Suna kugutsu user used to distract and wear down her opponent suddenly became more complex and focused on causing lethal damage.

The remaining cats surrounded Haku in a diamond pattern while still matching her speed. They would then randomly switch between aerial and ground attacks from opposite sides, constantly striking from her flanks when she turned to fight off or defend against the previous attack.

Haku began taking more damage as the cats speed picked up and their attacks began to land more often. One cat latched onto her shoulder with claws and began biting and digging into her ribs with its hind claws. Haku cried out in pain before gripping the cat puppet by the scruff and ripping it off of her shoulder. She jammed a fist full of senbon into the various joints and seams of the puppet hoping the steel needles would disable the movement of the puppet before tossing it aside. Making a single ram seal, she quickly summoned an ice mirror behind her to block the next series of attacks before flipping through one handed seals for Sensatsu Shishō (A Thousand Needles of Death).

Landing on the last hand seal, Haku sent a small barrage of water needles raining down on the cats using the small pool of water left over from her first water jutsu. Mitsuki tried her best to avoid the barrage but her concentration was disrupted when the tile she was standing on began to drop suddenly causing her to stumble. As she steadied herself, she saw the nearby tile begin to slide towards her direction, threatening to crush her against the neighboring tile if she didn't move. Mitsuki leaped forward to the tile in front of her only to be caught off guard by Sakura appearing directly in front of her in the air.

Sakura had noticed Mitsuki watching her out of the corner of her eye and caught her in a subtle genjutsu that would fool the kunoichi into thinking Sakura was engaged with Shizuka. With her full focus on Haku, it was easy to slip that minute amount of chakra into Mitsuki's chakra system hiding Sakura's true actions from the Suna-nin. Next, she trapped Shizuka in a dual layer genjutsu before she recovered from the withdrawing wrens. The Nadeshiko kunoichi had detected the first genjutsu and dispelled it easily, but the second illusion had been strong enough to fool the brunette into believing that she was currently locked into a taijutsu battle that she was slowly winning.

Sakura was about to unleash her mental attack on her first victim when her cyberbrain detected a surge of energy from underneath the arena. Her mind quickly equated the sudden increase in power with an impending field shift, so Sakura delayed her plans in order to prepare for the tiles to shuffle instead of taking action. No one was currently focused on her at the moment so she could wait it out and make a new plan once the new layout appeared.

When she began to see the tiles surrounding the Suna kunoichi began to shift away, Sakura saw an opening and charged towards the kugutsu user, hoping to eliminate her with a single shot. From what she had observed so far, Sakura knew that she was ill equipped to deal with all the puppets that Mitsuki had. She wasn't particularly slow by any means but she was definitely not fast enough to evade or hit those extremely fast puppets.

The pinkette lashed out at Mitsuki with a kick that was chakra enhanced and powered by an increased cybernetic output of 110 percent. The roundhouse kick caught the Suna ninja dead center, causing Mitsuki to spit up blood and go flying back towards the edge of the combat field. The kunoichi bounced off of the containment barrier before falling to the ground in a heap.

As Sakura landed from her assault, however, Shizuka had broken the second genjutsu placed on her and charged in to blindside Sakura with Nadeshiko-Ryū Kōha Senkaigiri (Nadeshiko-Style Hardliner Revolving Cut). The wind enhanced kick struck Sakura in the chest, sending her flying back towards the barrier. Shizuka watched with a smirk as Sakura flew back towards the barrier and prepared to attack her on the rebound only to see a log bounce off of the barrier instead. Shizuka immediately whirled about and saw Sakura charging towards her left flank. Flipping rapidly through had seals, the Nadeshiko kunoichi used Ressenpū (Violent Whirlwind) to send Sakura flying back. Unfortunately for the brunette, she had fallen for Sakura's trap.

The real Sakura had managed to perform her first successful hack by invading Shizuka's cyberbrain while she was distracted by the wrens and genjutsu. It didn't take long to identify and target the optical receivers in Shizuka's brain in order to create an illusion similar to genjutsu except this illusion wasn't so simple to dispel.

As soon as Sakura had used Kawarimi, she had quickly used Shunshin to move out of that location and left a false projection of her charging Shizuka from her left flank. Instead, Sakura was actually on the opposite side of her projected image, flipping through hand seals for Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu).

Shizuka never realized what she was seeing was false until she felt a searing pain throughout her body as the cluster of fireballs Sakura sent towards her target landed. If Sakura had not aimed the fireballs around Shizuka instead of directly at her, the brunette would be dead right now. Instead, the fireballs exploded around the Nadeshiko kunoichi, sending her flying away from Sakura. She tumbled across the ground for a bit before stopping face down near the edge of the battlefield. Seeing the contestant was unconscious with first-degree burns covering a good portion of her body, the proctor declared her eliminated from the match.

Sakura didn't have time to celebrate, unfortunately, as she was attacked on two sides by Mitsuki and Haku.

Mitsuki had managed to summon her Uchiwasaboten (Prickly Pear Cactus) puppets around her in a defensive formation. While she was protected from almost all angles, she funneled a large portion of her chakra to make the chakra fruits grow. The chakra fruits, filled with healing chakra, could heal most wounds once eaten by the puppet master. After she ate enough fruit to stabilize herself, she glared at Sakura in rage before unsealing her next group of puppets. At the same time, she used the offensive ability of her cactus to send endless waves of senbon towards both Sakura and Haku.

Haku had charged Sakura as soon as she saw her flipping through hand seals for her fire jutsu. She reduced her speed to time her attack on Sakura to land right after she finished off Shizuka with her fire jutsu. For the most part, Haku's timing was perfect. She sent Sakura skidding back several feet with a powerful punch to her jaw that rattled her cyberbrain and caused her vision to black out briefly. If Sakura hadn't been clinging to the tile with chakra, she might have been sent flying back towards Mitsuki's cactus line.

Instead, she was forced to defend herself against Haku's onslaught of punches and kicks laced with senbon strikes that aimed to disable her opponent. Sakura found herself on the defensive right away as she struggled to keep up with the lightning-fast strikes. For every kick or punch she would block or parry, Haku would land two strikes on her body. Unfortunately, for Haku, her pinpoint accuracy was striking the wrong points to disable cybernetic limbs. Had she been facing an organic shinobi in this fight, they would have been rendered immobile by now. While the needles were causing damage to Sakura's prosthetic limbs, they weren't significant enough to disable their functionality.

At that moment, the first wave of senbon from Mitsuki's Uchiwasaboten reached their intended destination, forcing both Haku to break apart before they were pummeled by countless steel needles.

Haku quickly retreated into an ice mirror she manifested at her feet. The masked Kiri-nin reappeared on the far side of the arena where she had hidden a mirror earlier in the match. Haku studied the formation of puppets around Mitsuki to find a vulnerability she could use to launch an attack. She kept close tabs on Sakura out of the corner of her eye while trying to come up with a strategy to avoid that wall of cactus and the even more dangerous wall of needles they were capable of spewing.

Sakura was forced to dodge, deflect, and block the wall of senbon that was sent in her direction. By the time the barrage ended, her limbs were riddled with the sharp metal needles. Tossing a wary glance at Haku, Sakura began ripping out as many of the needles as she could while the Suna shinobi was in the process of summoning some more puppets. Using genjutsu was out of the question since Haku had eliminated them with ease, and Mitsuki was entirely focused on her.

Out of a large cloud of smoke, a pair of 10-foot long centipede puppets appeared. The inert wrens and bobcats, disappeared in a puff of smoke while the wall of cactus moved from in front of Mitsuki to cover her flank on each side. Seeing the Suna-nin move her senbon launchers out of range, Sakura realized that these centipedes were probably the woman's trump card.

"Now you die you pink haired bitch!" Mitsuki snarled before sending a centipede towards Sakura. The other centipede charged towards Haku in a blur before rearing up and striking with claws and fangs, forcing Haku to use Kawarimi to evade the blindingly fast attack. Even after replacing herself as far as possible, the centipede was almost on top of her in a few seconds. Instead of lashing out again, it circled around Haku to entrap the Hyōton user before it began to speed up causing a small cyclone to start forming.

On the other side of the arena, the same exact tactic was being used on Sakura as well. As the centipede continued to pick up speed it also began to tighten the circle threatening to dice the trapped target with its razor sharp limbs. At the same time, the cyclone generated by the spin began to gain strength trying to launch the target into the air where they would be vulnerable to the venom injectors that were situated in the jaws of the centipede. A toxin so virile that the victim would die within 30 seconds of injection (if the massive mandibles didn't strike anything fatal in the process of injecting said venom, of course).

Sakura had latched onto the ground using her chakra, but the cyclone was quickly eating through her reserves. Kneeling down towards the ground, Sakura decided to make a risky maneuver to escape this trap and hopefully finish off the puppet.

Increasing the cybernetic output to her legs, she drew on the tensile strength of her left arm to increase the output even further before adding a quarter of her remaining chakra as well. Pushing off of the ground, she used her burst of power to leap up into the air and used the updraft of the cyclone to add to her momentum.

At first, the puppet user was shocked by the speed of which Sakura was pulled off of her feet. Then she realized that the cyclone hadn't reached the proper strength to lift someone off of the ground. She tried to lash out with the centipede's jaws to poison the pinkette as she flew past the puppet's head, but Sakura's ascension was too fast for the puppet and the attack missed by a wide margin. Mitsuki paused as she tried to figure out what, exactly, the Konoha kunoichi planned to do from that height until she _saw_ the build up of chakra in the pinkette's fist. In a panic, Mitsuki tried to draw her puppet back, but it was too late.

Shifting the power from her legs into her right arm and fist as she fell towards the arena, Sakura put most of her strength and power into the attack. Her chakra was too low for her to add more power behind the attack, so she was relying on gravity and inertia to make up the difference. Hopefully, the shock wave would eliminate both of her opponents or put them in a vulnerable state so she could finish them off.

As soon as she was about to hit the stadium floor, Sakura slammed her fist into the ground and expelled half of her remaining chakra and the rest of her combined output causing a massive crater and shock wave to erupt from around her. The centipede puppet that had tried to flee away from the attack disappeared in an explosion of splinters and spindly legs leaving only one-eighth of the puppet intact. The force of the attack also dislodged several of the arena tiles causing them to collapse or shatter into pieces that flew out from the center of the impact zone. One of these large chunks went flying towards Mitsuki, who had fallen to the ground from the force of the shock wave. The shattered crushed both of her legs and one of her arms before leaving her pinned to the ground.

Sakura collapsed to the ground while panting heavily. Her left arm and legs were temporarily disabled by her cybernetic redirection, while her right arm had sustained heavy damage from the impact on the ground. Far more than she had expected. Looking up she was happy to see that Mitsuki was out of the match for good before she scanned her surroundings and saw a fairly uninjured Haku emerging from a massive spire of spiked ice that had ripped apart the centipede surrounding her and sheltered the Kiri-nin from the shockwave and a few shattered pieces of tile.

Sakura tried to move her body to stand up and face the final opponent, but her limbs wouldn't respond. Her cyberbrain quickly generated an injury report and repair progress report. Seeing the numbers that were displayed, Sakura knew that it was over for her. She had severely underestimated the added kinetic energy behind her attack when falling from the projected height with the amount of output and chakra she had added to her attack. Sakura mentally cursed when she realized she had forgotten to factor in gravity to her calculations. There was no way the opponent would let her be for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Even then, she would be severely hampered and low on chakra to boot. Haku was also running in cyberbrain autistic mode, so there was no possibility of her hacking the Kiri-nin's brain and turning the situation to her advantage.

With a resigned sigh, the pinkette looked at her opponent with a frown. Haku approached cautiously with a fist full of senbon at the ready.

"Would you prefer to forfeit or be eliminated painlessly," Haku asked quietly.

"Proctor, I forfeit," Sakura called out. She might get more points for being taken out, but it was foolish of her to sustain more damage at this point. Even if her opponent was being generous with her offer, she couldn't be certain it was genuine. In fact, Sakura was surprised that a kunoichi from Kiri wasn't simply eliminating her without question.

Now that she thought back over the battle, the Kiri shinobi hadn't done very much at all. It seemed she had opted to sit back and try to pick off people. While she had been hacking Shizuka's cyberbrain, she saw Haku under attack by the various puppets, and knew the kunoichi was skilled, but it seemed she wasn't very aggressive.

Haku would win the title of champion but Sakura doubted she would get a promotion from her performance.

As for herself, she wasn't entirely certain if she would earn a promotion either. She didn't know if they could tell that she had hacked Shizuka and if they could tell, they would know that she had failed to hack Mitsuki's cyberbrain successfully. She wasn't even certain if they would award or deduct points for such an act or possibly disqualify her.

While cyberbrain hacking was harshly punished within the Nehan Empire and a majority of other countries worldwide, there was no rule or regulations against it in Genso no Kuni, yet. Each village had different penalties for cyberbrain hacking that widely varied from a moderate prison sentence to immediate execution. She knew it wouldn't be long before it was banned because of the potential damage that could be done. Seizing control of a person and forcing them to commit a crime, stealing all their personal information, even simply frying their brains was all possible with hacking. Yet, the Yamanaka had jutsu that could do the exact same thing and it wasn't really illegal. Shinobi used whatever means necessary and morals were only dictated by the shinobi or the village they were sworn to serve. This was probably the primary driver behind the lack of current regulations as each village weight the benefits and cons of supporting such actions.

If you could force your target to eliminate themselves without leaving behind a trace of evidence, why wouldn't you foster that kind of method? Every shinobi and kunoichi would have to complete an assassination mission once they reached the rank of Chūnin since they were, sadly, a sizable portion of mission requests. Some might not consider bandit removal as "assassination" but Sakura didn't accept the various technicalities used to try and categorize the difference between eliminating a future clan heir inside of an enemy village or butchering a particularly vile group of highwaymen. To her, they were all assassination missions that had different moral quantifications in regards to mental baggage.

Sakura decided that she was satisfied with her performance until the very end, but her successful, first time hacking of an opponent's cyberbrain was definitely the highlight of these exams in her opinion. While there was no training on how to perform such hacks and cyberbrain hacking was generally frowned on, Sakura had been reading up on the subject through underground websites that had been appearing on TRELLIS and HAEvN as well.

She didn't delve onto the global network very often, but when she did, it was always to study advanced technology and programming that wasn't available on LATTICE and TRELLIS. She loved delving into Alpha and Beta versions of software because the code was often unsecured and she could study the various styles and signatures that different programmers used. It especially trained her to identify vulnerabilities and how to defend against them. She had become far more proficient at it then the security software and updates that were released to the general public.

For Sakura, hacking a target's cyberbrain to gain information or subdue them seemed more humane than torture or assassination. With the right skill, you could erase or replace memories. There were even ways to plant suggestions based on keywords or images so that you could make sleeper agents. She wouldn't deny it was morally objectionable, on some level, to tamper with someone's mind in such a way, but ninja weren't known for being righteous in their tasks. Completing missions for the good of your village often set you at odds with another.

It was just how their world worked.

With her forfeiture announced, Sakura was taken off the field on a stretcher by the medical team who began treating her organic wounds. The inorganic wounds would require a proper medical lab to assess and repair all the damage done to the internal systems. She saw Shizuka and Mitsuki also being treated inside the arena's medical ward.

At least there was a screen for her to watch Naruto's fight. Judging from how much damage she had to her prosthesis, she would still be here by the time his match would start. _If_ they managed to repair the field in time. Hopefully, the judges didn't hold that against her for promotion. Still, a small part of her was glad that Ame would have to spend a great deal of money to replace what she had damaged, even if it cost her a promotion. After the hostile treatment they had received from the village, the bastards deserved it.

After the hostile treatment they had received from the village, the bastards deserved it.

 **VIP Box**

* * *

In the VIP box, the judges and Kage for each village discussed the last fight and reviewed each kunoichi contestant by replaying highlights of their battles during the second stage and scores from the written exam in the first stage. Some of the Daimyō were actively involved in the discussion while others were simply diverting themselves with watching the playbacks of earlier matches or playing card games with each other while waiting for the Shinobi matches to start. Several caterers entered the room and began to set up a fancy spread of gourmet meals, exotic fruits, and a wide array of alcoholic drinks on several tables covered with large silk cloth to contrast with the polished silver serving ware. The Anbu guards from each village briefly inspected the thermal containers that kept the food warm (or chilled), dishes, utensils, and any other equipment that the caterers brought in with them. Once that inspection was complete, each dish was tested for a wide array of poisons before the Anbu allowed to continue with their set up.

Once everything was arrayed on the tables, the caterers tucked their extra equipment underneath the tables to keep them out of view. While most of the caterers left, an orange haired bartender and a blue haired waitress remained behind to serve the high-class clientele and collect the empty glasses, plates, and utensils.

Every so often the bartender would study his surroundings carefully before glancing at the blue haired waitress. The waitress made her way around the room, tending to the nobles and occasionally approaching the Kage themselves, to ask if they needed on food or refreshments. At first, she was rebuffed by Hanzō's guards immediately, but she had attracted the attention of some of the lesser Kage from the minor villages.

After a short discussion with the leader of Ame, he allowed the waitress to set up a few small tables around the Kage booth where she arranged sampler platters from the food table. The bartender came over to assist the waitress in setting up the tables and set out small ice chests at each one before he began pouring and mixing drink requests for the gathering of village leaders.

It didn't take long for the duo to serve each of the interested Kage from their selection of food and drinks. Once the gathering of leaders returned to their discussions on the kunoichi eligible for promotion, the waitress and bartender slipped away. Taking up their original positions at the main food and beverage tables, they continued with their facade of serving the bloated nobility and corrupt leaders of their country until they received the signal to begin their stage of the plan.

 **Ame Central Broadcast Tower**

* * *

Several shadowy figures emerged from the large moat surrounding the tall building that housed all of Ame's TV and online broadcasters. The group of 12 cloaked figures split up and made their way around the outer perimeter of the building, eliminating guards before planting small devices around the guard stations and any visible surveillance systems. As the mysterious figures converged on the front and rear exits to the building, a short flash of light emerges from the planted boxes simultaneously, temporarily disabling all unshielded circuitry in the immediate area.

Surveillance cameras, observation AI, androids, and any unfortunate cyborgs caught in the blast radius power down or are rendered immobile by the strange wave of light.

The cloaked figures then enter the building from both entrances on an unseen signal, taking down any security guards and locking down all entrances and exits to secure the building. A few members remain hidden in the shadows near the entryway and exit, ensuring that no one enters or exits the building before their plan can be accomplished.

Once the first floor of the building is secured, the group then spreads out and begins systematically sweeping each floor of the building capturing or killing all the employees within. The only floor untouched at this point is Channel Blue Broadcasting, which is responsible for all the feeds of the Chūnin Exams being broadcast inside and outside of the Genso no Kuni. Including the feeds being displayed to the Nehan Empire and its allies for the very first time.

To the outside world, nothing appears to be amiss. With most of the jobs of running a TV or web-based entertainment channel being handled by sophisticated AI with a living observer, the shows and streams continue uninterrupted.

The group converges on the Channel Blue offices and quickly subdues or eliminates its employees. After completing another sweep, the mysterious group begins to make modifications to the current programming. A few members of the group remain behind to ensure that the various channels and feeds continue to run smoothly until the new content is ready to be aired worldwide. When they receive the signal from their Leader, the world will learn the truth and a new world order will be born.

The rest of the group depart the building and fade into the shadows of the towering skyscrapers, preparing for the next phase of their plan.

 **With Naruto**

* * *

Naruto finished his Taikyokuken routine with just 10 minutes to spare before his match in the finals. He felt calm and focused, ready for the match to come. His chakra was now smooth and easily pliable instead of agitated and condensed. As usual, completing the moving meditation exercise boosted his sensory range immensely for a short period of time. Already his senses could pick up the subtle nuances of his opponents chakra signatures as they waited in the nearby underground ready rooms. The blond had already been forced to tune out the spectators because of the massive amount of chakra signatures he was picking up above him. Even though most had genin level chakra reserves or less, the sheer amount of signatures he had felt when he exited his meditation had almost overwhelmed him.

Nervous excitement had almost bubbled back up in him when he felt the sheer numbers of spectators, but the whiskered teen managed to regain control of his emotions by controlling his breathing and keeping his heart rate slowed. After a minute of intense concentration, he managed to return to that post-meditation tranquility he enjoyed. The tension and excitement from his nervousness now tucked away to be utilized as energy in the heat of combat.

At the instruction of the assistant proctor, Naruto entered the tile room and is directed towards his starting tile. The tile was already opened, revealing the terrain underneath revealing a patch of nothing more than coarse sand.

'A desert battleground?' Naruto thought with a furrowed brow as he tested his footing.

The sand was fairly deep and dry, making his feet sink into it up to his ankles without using chakra. Either he would waste chakra remaining on top of the sand, or his movements would be slowed by remaining bogged down by it.

The assistant proctor interrupted Naruto out of his thoughts by clapping a hand on his shoulder before drawing his attention to a red light hanging above him.

"Once that light turns green, you will have 5 seconds to prepare yourself for the tile to move up into the arena." The assistant says. "Just a warning, the tile will move very fast so if you don't want to make an embarrassing entrance, be ready for it."

Naruto merely nodded in affirmation while keeping his attention fixed on the light. He concentrated on the chakra signatures of his opponents and found them to be in a similar state as his own. Calm and steady with slight fluctuations that signified some nervousness or excitement. Moderate strength in Doton and Katon on his right, Heavy Suiton with a dash of Raiton in front of him.

Even as far underground as he was, he could hear the muffled roar of the crowd as the announcer began speaking over the arena's loudspeakers. A small glimmer of stadium lights and a mechanical whirring sound drew his attention towards the right where he saw one of his opponents get lifted up into the stadium. The roar of the crowd grew louder until the tile locked into place, muffling the sound once more.

'Damn that man wasn't kidding when he said it moved fast!' Naruto thought before quickly turning his gaze back to the red light. It had taken only a few seconds for his opponent to rise up to the stadium floor which was, at least, 10 feet above them.

The moment he saw the red light flicker off and the green light begin to glow, Naruto began to channel chakra into his feet and took a bracing breath to keep his nervousness to a minimum. He had to stop himself from flinching when the tile overhead dropped down and slid out of the way revealing the bright lights and roar of the packed arena. With a lurch, he was suddenly cast up into the blinding lights and thundering applause to reveal the newly repaired fighting arena.

Naruto blinked to adjust to the sudden change in lighting before studying his surroundings discreetly. The battleground was currently set to a resemble a miniature harbor with the large pool of water residing mainly on the opposite side of the arena. The pseudo ocean then began curving towards his left where it tapered off into the stadium wall. The rest of the combat area replicated a beach that was littered with a few clusters of rocky boulders, patches of wild grass, and some scattered brush common for a beachfront environment.

'Of course, they had to give the Ame guy a major advantage from the very start.' Naruto thought flatly when he saw the Ame ninja emerge from the bottom of the arena on the very edge of "ocean".

The genin was wearing a strange, off-white jumpsuit with a rebreather and white half mask covering his eyes. His hair was covered by his bandanna hitai-ate, and his feet were covered with closed toe shoes that matched his suit.

Naruto recalled that Shibi of Ame had remained completely at long range during his quarter final match and used a great deal of combination jutsu with his teammate while their close range specialist prevented their opponents from charging in to disrupt their hand seals. Whenever someone on the opposite team managed to get past their defender, the Ame genin had _always_ sent out a massive wave to push everyone back.

Not even his teammates were spared from the deluge.

In a straight jutsu battle, Naruto was confident he could win. Shibi didn't have large chakra reserves from what he could sense, and his body structure and build showed he lacked the conditioning to endure a drawn out hand to hand battle. The problem with challenging the Ame genin in a Suiton manipulation battle lie mostly with the Iwa genin, Katsuo. Trying to simply battle at range would ensure that the bulky rock-nin would simply blitz one of them while they were exchanging jutsu.

The Iwa genin favored taijutsu heavily, using a common combination of Iwa no Yoroi (Rock Armor) and Doton: Kengan no Jutsu (Stone Fist). From what Naruto had observed during the Iwa team's match, Katsuo's overall skill and speed weren't very good. The only reason his team came out on top was due to the fact he was able to absorb a great deal of damage and had the stamina necessary to chase an opponent around doggedly until he managed to land a crippling strike with his stone encased fists. It didn't help that Katsuo had the elemental advantage over him either, but Naruto had a few ideas on how to get past that.

Setting his plans into motion would be difficult, however, as it was quite obvious that both of his opponents intended to eliminate him first. It wasn't hard to guess, considering that both of them were glaring at him intensely. The Iwa genin even went so far as to crack his knuckles as he sneered at Naruto.

His red, fingerless gloves matching the strange shirt he was wearing. With only a single long sleeve on his right arm, his left arm was exposed entirely beside the glove and a small leather bracer that covered half of his forearm. His pants were brown with matching brown combat sandals on his feet. His head was shaved bare and adorned with a hitai-ate with a red strap.

As the proctor began explaining the rules for the match, Naruto tuned him out in order to run a few scenarios through his head. It would be difficult, but his best option was to eliminate Shibi first. Hopefully, his clones could hold off Katsuo long enough for him to take down the Ame ninja.

The proctor finished outlining the rules before jumping back and calling the match to start.

Immediately, Katsuo began rushing towards Naruto in a full out sprint while flipping through hand seals for Doton: Kengan no Jutsu. At the same time, Shibi began flipping through his own sequence of hand seals relying on Katsuo to serve as his distraction to launch his attack.

Naruto immediately created two clones before all of them used Shunshin (Body Flicker) to appear in different parts of the arena. While he positioned himself in the northwest quadrant, his clones appeared in the center and southwest quadrant respectively. Seeing both Katsuo and Shibi looking between the different clones warily, Naruto knew they weren't sensors and had lost track of him. That wasn't too surprising, considering most genin didn't usually have sensory skills unless they had a bloodline of some type. Now, at least, he was certain that neither of them were sensors and his plan could be readjusted accordingly.

Shibi just continued with his long sequence of hand seals before landing on the bird seal. He called out Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon) as a giant water dragon rose up behind him.

Naruto knew then that Shibi's elemental manipulation wasn't even _close_ to his level.

When someone has fully mastered their elemental manipulation and control exercises, the need to channel your mental will into the jutsu by calling out its name became unnecessary. While it could be a trick or the Ame ninja was just trying to be flashy for the audience, Naruto could feel how much Shibi's chakra reserve was depleted from the attack and the water dragon wasn't nearly as large or dense as Naruto could make his own.

Springing into action, Naruto sent the center clone to clash with Katsuo who had decided to charge the middle clone first. The southwest clone began to flip through hand seals along with Naruto himself. The first to finish their seals was Naruto, who began spitting expanding boulders towards Shibi using Doton: Iwadeppō (Rock Bullet). The southern clone completed its jutsu and enhanced the flying boulders with Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough).

Shibi sent his water dragon charging forward towards Naruto, counting on the stronger Suiton jutsu to overpower the weaker Doton jutsu but was surprised when the boulders began tearing through the attack once the wind jutsu augmented their velocity. While his jutsu was defeated, the Ame ninja was forced to dash towards the center to avoid the remaining boulders that crashed down on his previous position.

Once out of the range of the projectiles, he focused on Naruto and began flipping through hand seals, ignoring the southern clone completely. Naruto responded by flipping through his own hand seals and calling on a large amount of chakra for his next move.

Meanwhile, Katsuo was getting frustrated trying to land a hit on Naruto's evasive clone in the center. The bunshin was easily ducking and weaving around Katsuo's lumbering attacks with the standard academy style, so it didn't bother revealing his more advanced styles yet. While the clone landed several counter attacks, the Iwa no Yoroi was negating most of the damage caused by the clone, even with Fūton chakra enhancing each of his strikes.

The clone managed to push Katsuo back with a spinning back kick before flipping through hand seals rapidly. Landing on the Tiger seal, the clone took a deep breath before spitting out Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) towards the Iwa genin. Katsuo merely scoffed and prepared to charge the attack when he caught sight of another clone appearing next to first one before extending its hands. A gust of wind from Fūton: Reppūshō (Gale Palm) enhanced the giant fireball, causing it to speed up rapidly and increase in power.

Katsuo had no choice but to pull off a quick Kawarimi to avoid the attack since his rock armor wouldn't be able to withstand the combination attack. Seeing one of the clones disappear in a puff of smoke, however, removed his wariness and the Iwa genin charged forward into the fight once more.

To the north of the battle in center field, Naruto was currently taking cover behind Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to avoid Shibi's Suiton: Suishōha (Water Shockwave). As the water surged around the earthen wall, Naruto quickly flipped through his own hand seals. Slamming his hands on the ground, Naruto sent a surge of cutting water towards Shibi from an underground water tile using Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri (Rising Water Slicer).

Caught off guard by the attack, Shibi was cut along his leg and torso by the razor sharp jet of water that emerged from directly underneath him. Naruto moved to finish his opponent off, but both of them were forced to pause in their attacks as the arena began to shift beneath their feet.

Naruto clung to the top of the earthen wall he was in the process of leaping over before the tile beneath him began to sink down into the recess below. Scanning the field from his perch, he saw a large groove opening up between him and Shibi and scowled.

'Can these assholes be any more obvious about their bias?!' he shouted mentally as he watched his opponent's tile shift out of his range.

Katsuo and his clone were forced to leap apart in their battle as their tile also sank into the ground and other tiles shifted apart to make way for new terrain.

The outer edge tiles began sliding towards the center to fill the gap while new, covered tiles began replacing the outer edges. The fighters were forced to leap from tile to tile as the entire field shifted from the sandy beach to the smooth metal that concealed the terrain hidden underneath.

Naruto managed to keep tabs on his opponents with his senses as he made his way towards the newly added tiles. His clone had dispelled itself in order to add its remaining chakra to his created. Since there would be a lull in combat while the field changed, there was no use in keeping the clone fueled until he knew what the new terrain would look like. While he still had a good amount of chakra remaining, he had hoped to eliminate at least one of his targets before his reserves dropped to this point.

He could sense that Shibi would be running low soon as he was using Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm) to heal his wounds. Katsuo hadn't lost much of his chakra, so far, but he hadn't done much beyond activate his two key jutsu and battle a clone who had simply evaded his swings. Naruto could sense that his chakra was agitated, however, meaning he was frustrated and starting to feel the cost of maintaining his rock armor.

Naruto landed on a covered tile and looked back over the battlefield. The last of the center tiles were now being replaced with the new terrain arrangement, but the metal covers had yet to slide open. Naruto extended a bit of reiki to see if he could pick up any clue as to what this new terrain was, but the magnetic fields keeping the tiles sealed were screwing with his senses.

A slight click, barely heard over the roaring audience, was the only warning he had to leap into the air as the metal lid cover slid open beneath him. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw flames beginning to lick beneath his feet. Creating a few clones in mid-air, he used his clones to toss him away from the fire that was being revealed beneath him.

He landed a bit roughly closer to the center and was forced to roll with the momentum. Looking back, he saw pillars of flame shoot upwards and sharp metallic spikes rising up around him. From the sides of these large spikes, several smaller spikes shot out forming an abstract silhouette of a tree. He dashed away from the metal tile he landed on towards a small island of rocky dirt that had been revealed towards the center.

He saw Katsuo grinning as they both prepared to collide in the center with Shibi running in from the opposite side. Flipping through hand seals as he ran, Naruto managed to draw on enough water from the air around him for a quick Tenkyū (Heavenly Weeping), spitting a wave of water senbon towards Shibi to force him back before he began to gather chakra for a move he hoped would finish off the Iwa ninja.

Shibi was forced to pause in his advance and concentrate on dodging or blocking the wave of water needles with his kunai. Naruto was caught off-guard, however, when he used Kawarimi to replace himself with a rock in Naruto's path to cut him off before trying to thrust his kunai into Naruto's chest.

Naruto barely deflected the attack away from his core using his reinforced bracer, earning a shallow cut on his whiskered cheek. With his plan to finish off the Iwa ninja foiled, Naruto began to engage Shibi at close range using the first style of Shōrinji Ken (Seven star style) in live combat for the first time.

Shibi lunged forward with his kunai while pulling a second kunai from his pouch to attack Naruto with his off hand. Naruto swept the thrusting kunai away from his body using a downward sweeping motion with his left hand while his right rose up to strike Shibi in the face with a back fist. As the Ame ninja head snapped back from the strike, Naruto followed up with a combination of strikes to the body and head that sent the Ame genin reeling back, unable to counter-attack. As Shibi was pushed out of range from a particularly powerful uppercut, Naruto shuffled forward to send a powerful thrust kick to the Ame ninja's gut.

Shibi coughed up spittle and a bit of blood as the powerful kick knocked the air out of his lungs and sent him flying backward. The genin tumbled across the ground before, painfully, coming to rest against a small boulder.

As Naruto prepared to charge forward and eliminate Shibi, his senses flared and he was forced to leap backward when Katsuo came crashing down on his position with a high-powered axe kick. The Iwa ninja dashed forward and began lashing out with a series of punches and kicks, driving Naruto back from the center.

Using the crane style of Shōrinji, Naruto was able to duck and weave through Katsuo's attacks while whittling away at the rock armor with numerous counter attacks. Deflecting a stony fist, Naruto would spin to the side and land a combination of wind enhanced punches and kicks to his opponent's ribs and kidneys. For each attack the bulky genin sent towards the blond, two or three were returned. The Iwa no Yoroi did its job, however, minimizing the damage that Katsuo took and allowing him to remain in the fight. Still, the constant attacks were wearing down the Iwa genin and Naruto could see that the small cutting bursts of wind he laced into each strike were beginning to wear down the armor. With each small chip of rock removed from the stony defense, Katsuo had to expend a portion of his chakra to restore the damaged section or he would become vulnerable. Slowly, but surely, his reserves began to dwindle.

Ducking beneath a powerful sweeping hook from the Iwa genin, Naruto was forced to roll to the side to avoid his countering overhead smash. The tiles beneath their feet rattled from the impact, but Naruto had already leaped up into the air and landed a powerful spinning hook kick to Katsuo's head. Landing spryly on his feet, Naruto immediately stepped forward and used his momentum to lash out with a low sweep to dislodge his opponent's feet and send him falling to the ground.

With a massive burst of chakra from his feet, Naruto propelled himself high into the air before summoning a clone directly above him. The clone rapidly flipped through hand seals and used Fūton: Daitoppato send the original hurtling down towards Katsuo with a high-speed split axe kick. Even with the Iwa no Yoroi active, the power behind Naruto's attack caused Katsuo to spit up some of his stomach contents as the powerful kick cratered him into the ground. The tiles rattled from the impact but remained intact.

Naruto felt a flare of chakra from the side and immediately rolled backward, narrowly avoiding the Suiton: Suiben (Water Whip) that had been sent towards him while he was stuck in the splits. In a fancy display of acrobatics, Naruto rolled, flipped, and hand sprung away from the lashing water whips that drove him further back from Katsuo and the partially recovered Shibi.

Naruto landed near a flaming tree and observed as Katsuo rose shakily to his feet before rolling away from a water whip sent at him from Shibi. Naruto drew on the flames around him and flipped through the hand seals for Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu). He puffed up his chest and kneaded a large amount of chakra into the first fireball to fool his opponents into thinking he was performing the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. It was a risky trick to attempt, but as long as he kept his throat and lungs coated in a thin layer of reiki, he should be able to hold the remaining fireballs back long enough to do the trick without roasting his internal organs.

Katsuo saw Naruto's actions and began to channel more chakra into his rock armor. While he didn't _need_ to worry about the water whips being sent at him by the stupid Ame genin, he wanted to save his chakra to finish off the Konoha bastard. Katsuo waited for the blond to launch his fireball before he began his charge. He needed to finish off the blond for good, so the Iwa genin channeled a large part of his remaining chakra into his legs to give him a higher burst of speed than usual.

As Naruto suspected, the second he sent his first large fireball towards Shibi, Katsuo began to try and blitz him again. Naruto internally smirked as his plan fell into place, he waited until the Iwa ninja was too close to evade before sending the next three fireballs directly into his face.

Katsuo growled as the first fireball washed over him, channeling more chakra into his armor, he continued his charge only to be sent flying back as two more fireballs exploded against his chest. Staggered and blinded by the explosion and smoke wafting off of his body, the Iwa ninja was unable to react when Naruto appeared in front of him with a swirl of leaves. All Katsuo knew was _pain_ when the blond shoved some type of chakra attack into his gut. The orb drilled through his armor like it was paper before grinding into his flesh for a few moments.

Naruto began to reduce the chakra to his attack before the Rasengan could pulverize his opponent's insides. While killing was allowed, it was still frowned upon. Naruto increased the chakra to his feet to latch onto the ground beneath him before allowing the Rasengan to destabilize and explode outward. Katsuo was sent flying back where he rolled across the ground and slammed into the base of one of the metallic trees.

The proctor used a quick spray of water to extinguish the flames on the tree before checking on the unmoving genin. The proctor checked Katsuo's breathing and began the customary ten-second countdown for unmoving contestants. Once the count ended, he announced to the crowd that Katsuo was eliminated before signaling an assistant proctor to remove him from the field. The crowd roared in response with the Iwa section jeering and cursing while the Konoha crowd going wild.

There wasn't much time for Naruto to celebrate, however, as Shibi had used the distraction from the proctor's appearance to send a wave of explosive notes, attached to kunai, towards Naruto. Naruto dive rolled away from the incoming tags, the concussive blasts sending him tumbling awkwardly but he managed to recover quickly thanks to his agility training.

Springing to his feet, Naruto stared down the Ame ninja and began plotting how he wanted to finish this match off. He _could_ dominate him with Suiton jutsu just to rub his superiority in the Ame ninja's face, but that would also provide him with the means to retaliate as he would create water for his opponent to use.

After a moment of consideration, Naruto decided he didn't give a damn. Ame had obviously slanted things in their favor so he would hurt their pride by showing them a true Suiton user.

Naruto began flipping rapidly through hand seals while drawing on a majority of the water he could feel in the air and from a few tiles underground. This would probably drain him completely but he would have plenty of time to rest up before his next match. If this didn't finish the Ame ninja off, he could always take a food pill and use one of the chakra storage seals he had created.

For show, he called out the name of his jutsu, "Suiton: Suishōha!" and waited to see the look on his opponent's face.

The water surged up from underneath the stadium floor, dislodging several tiles in the process as it rose up into a towering column of churning water with Naruto standing on the very top. The Ame genin's mouth was agape as he looked at the size of the wave before he began to try and run to the opposite side of the arena.

Naruto merely smirked before thrusting both of his arms forward, in an exaggerated fashion, to send the massive wave crashing down on his opponent. Shibi was unable to avoid the towering wave and was swept off of his feet tumbling head over heals in the churning waters while being pelted with debris from the rocks and broken tiles that were caught in the turbulent waters. The damage only grew worse as he neared the metal forest near the edge of the combat arena as the Ame genin was sent slamming through a few of the metal trees before roughly being crushed against the protective barrier from the force of the wave.

The field was mostly swept clean by the pseudo tsunami Naruto generated, the rocky island nothing more than a smear of mud with most of the boulders being piled up around the battered body of Shibi. All the fires were extinguished and most of the metal trees were bent out of shape with a few being dislodged from their foundations entirely. The floor was covered with almost two feet of water but was quickly receding as the waters drained into the recesses of the arena through the tiles Naruto had dislodged when drawing on the water beneath him.

Naruto briefly wondered if all that water would damage the fancy system of tiles and machinery that allowed the floor to be changed. The last thing he wanted to do was be electrocuted to death because of his own water attack.

Like Sakura, a part of him hoped it was extremely expensive for Ame to fix, but he pushed that aside. While they deserved some part of his contempt because of their outright bias and hostility towards Konoha, allowing such spiteful thoughts would only cause an imbalance in him.

The crowd was silent for a moment before exploding into a riot of noise that was deafening. Not even the proctor's announcement over the loudspeakers could overtake the noise erupting from the spectators. The Konoha section was on its feet stomping and waving signs while the Ame and Iwa sections were jeering or cursing with a few throwing their beverages and snack on the field in contempt.

Naruto simply soaked in the acknowledgment, knowing that his victory had been televised and streamed across the world. With that last display, he was confident that no one could look down on him anymore. They might still view him with disgust and hatred, but they couldn't deny his power. They couldn't call him pathetic or weak because he didn't have any cybernetics. They couldn't ignore his presence any longer and they would certainly think twice before they cursed him or threw trash at him.

Sure there would be many who would start fearing him, but most of those idiots, who still viewed him as the Kyūbi, were far too cowardly to lash out at him now. The rest of the villagers that treated him with indifference or ignored his existence would be forced to acknowledge him in some way.

And for Naruto, that was what really mattered. Because you couldn't respect someone without acknowledging them first.

* * *

(1)Semi-Autonomous Transport Helo with Chakra Ordinance.

Lighter armor for more speed and more carrying capacity. Armed with quad rotary standard chakra cannons on each forward stabilizer fin and a seven barrel rotary Katon (Fire) chakra cannon on the "stinger".

(2)Autonomous Assault Helo with Anti-vehicle Chakra Ordinance

Heavily armored and armed with a pair of 24 slot Katon box cannons and 12 Bakuton (Explosion) warheads on the forward stabilizer fins with a 7 barrel Yōton (Lava) chakra rotary cannon. Designed for taking on Heavy Tanks, Think Tanks, and Armed Suits.

(3) Modeled after the Bell 525 Helicopter


	8. Beta v1,6

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts**_

 _Mental Communications_

 _[Chat Box/Text communication]_

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but work has kept me busy. I hope to have enough time to finish the next chapter before the end of this month, but I won't promise anything.

 **Beta v.1.6**

 **February 18** **th** **2248**

 **Outside of the Poseidon Global Dome - Ame**

* * *

Heavy rain falls down from the deepening sky, hammering lightly on the cloak of a huddled figure standing beneath a massive stadium light. The falling raindrops and saturated walkway all shimmer under the luminescent lights, revealing an empty pedestrian bridge that leads from the heart of the village to the stadium entrance. Most of the streets and walkways around the stadium are strangely empty for a Friday night, a reflection of the village itself as most of the inhabitants are safely within the stadium or various bars and viewing areas to watch the finals. With most of the village distracted by the finals, several shadowy groups have begun seizing control of several key points around the village in a massive covert operation that has been planned for some time.

The cloaked figure seems impatient as it fidgets underneath the bright circle of light, swiveling its head around as if searching the darkness around it for something in particular. The figure stiffens briefly as the sound of footsteps echoing against the paved walkway reach its ears. A short time later, another cloaked figure emerges from the shadows and stops a short distance away from the first.

"Nagato-sama?!" the first figure greeted the second nervously. "I wasn't expecting you to meet me."

"Why hasn't the signal been sent yet?" the now named Nagato questioned in a monotone voice. "We were supposed to begin the operation during the middle of the first match."

"There is trouble at the power relay station. The team sent to take the station has met with heavy resistance and progress is slow." the first man replied quietly. "The guards were successful in sealing off the main control center and have fortified their position, but our comrades have managed to sever communications in that area so our actions should remain undetected- for now."

"What of the other key points in the village? Have they been taken on schedule?" Nagato asked.

"The broadcasting tower, the dam controls, and the barracks are all sealed off and under our control. All demolitions and emitters have been planted as instructed and simply await the master signal to be sent." The man rattled off. "All that remains is the power relay station and we can begin securing the arena in order to broadcast our message to the world."

Nagato was silent for a moment as he looked over the Ame skyline. The contact shuffled nervously but remained silent as his commander gathered his thoughts. After the silence stretched on for several minutes, Nagato gave his orders.

"While the power station is vital to controlling the village, our operation will fail if the backup generators at the stadium aren't triggered as planned. If necessary, we must destroy the station to ensure our plans succeed."

Nagato glanced at his watch before looking at his subordinate. "The damages caused to the field during the first match have bought us some extra time, but Yahiko will not tolerate any more delays. The longer we draw this out, the more likely our operation is to fail."

"Should I order the men to fall back and set up the contingency plans?"

"No," Nagato replied quickly. "We still have 27 minutes before the second match starts. If you don't believe they will succeed in taking the station before then, I want you to send the signal early so we can detonate the explosives at the right time."

"As you command, Nagato-sama." The man replied before dashing out of view.

"Today the Akatsuki will be known and our message will reach the world," Nagato mumbled to himself before disappearing in a swirl of water.

 **With Naruto and Sakura**

* * *

Sakura had just finished dressing in a fresh set of casual clothing when Naruto burst into her room. Startled, Sakura hurled the first thing within her grasp at Naruto.

A clang rang out as the metal bed pan bounced off the blond's head and clattered to the ground. Luckily, for Naruto, the pan had been unused or the small welt on his head would have been accompanied by even more unpleasantness.

"Ow! What was that for, Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined as he rubbed his head and pouted at her.

Sakura growled. "That's what you get for bursting into a woman's room without knocking you idiot! I could have been naked!" Sakura said while raising a threatening fist towards her teammate.

Naruto blushed before looking away. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I didn't think you would be repaired so soon."

"Yea, well, the damage I sustained wasn't that bad," Sakura replied her anger cooling. "Besides, I installed and tweaked a new nanite repair system before the exams. With those little guys and the help of the Poseidon cybernetic technicians, it didn't take long for me to get back to 100%! Even the techs were impressed by my modifications." Sakura said with a hint of pride.

"That's- great, Sakura-chan," Naruto said half halfheartedly.

While he was confident in Sakura's technical abilities, he wasn't comfortable with the thought of tiny machines running around inside of her body. While machines, in general, made him somewhat nervous, it was AI controlled machines that bothered him the most. Like his past fear of ghosts, the lifelessness of AI and their mockery of reality disturbed him on a deeper level. In his mind, they were abnormal, unnatural, and something to be wary of at all times.

Nanotechnology was particularly frightening to the blond because no other field of robotics had as many "rogue" events documented for public consumption. Because nanotechnology required the most sophisticated and advanced technology and AI programming, nanites were often far more intelligent and adaptable than anticipated. As a result of this top of the line technology, it was common for nanites to behave in unexpected ways.

One of the scariest examples Naruto had seen, was an experimental immune system that had been developed for people with compromised or diseased immune systems. The nanites were designed to latch onto the foreign and dangerous tissue and break it down on a cellular level before absorbing or disposing of the targeted material. This was not only the first nanite system to be used in an organic body but the first nanite system that had a limited intelligence not directly controlled by an external computer.

At first, the nanites had performed their duty well and the volunteer was plastered all over the media as an example of the benefits and safety of using nanotechnology within the human body. At the time, manufacturers were pushing for the removal of the restrictions placed by the Nehan Empire on micro machine treatments in regards to organic bodies and prosthetic limbs. Only fully prosthetic bodies and androids were allowed to make use of nanotechnology and the intelligence on the AI had strict regulations and limits imposed on them.

After a few years, however, the volunteer ended up dying a slow and painful death when the nanites suddenly began altering the healthy tissue of the host. The nanites had, somehow, altered their directives and intelligence blockers on their own before evolving themselves to a level where they could begin modifying the cells on a genetic level; even building cybernetic structures within some of the organs and brain of the subject. As a result of the changes, the host suffered from constant debilitating pain and nausea as necrosis began to set in around the converted tissue. Any tissue that wasn't dying from the changes was behaving erratically because of the genetic alterations made by the nanites. Naruto didn't fully understand the changes that were explained, but the end result had been enough to make the message clear to him.

It was never explained why the nanites suddenly deemed the healthy tissue a threat, and the scientists claimed that the nanites were never even programmed to convert normal tissue into cybernetic tissue in the first place. The AI for the individual micro machines was supposed to be very limited with a very direct focus, but instead, the nanites had developed a form of swarm intelligence, chaining together their limited processing power and memory to increase their collective intelligence far beyond what was anticipated.

While it was a breakthrough in terms of advanced AI and nanotechnology, the project was shut down and the company that had funded the project went bankrupt due to the bad publicity. The micro machine industry had tried to quell the public's fear by writing the outcome off as incompetence on the part of the project scientists, but the damage had been done. The public began calling for greater controls and restrictions on nanites, androids, and even AI technology in the fear that other artificial lifeforms could go rogue and disobey their creators.

The Nehan empire responded to the public outcry by increasing regulations on AI and android intelligence limits and enforcing stricter emergency shutdown protocols. They also began clamping down harshly on nanites and micro machines in general.

Nanites were banned from being applied to, or used on, organic tissue or body parts. Heavy restrictions were placed on nanites affecting cybernetic limbs and parts that were used in conjunction with organic body parts.

Only nanites with an intelligence regulated by a central control system, like a cyberbrain or non-AI controlled program, were allowed in prosthetic limbs and organs but they had to be restricted to interacting with inorganic limbs and tissues. The only exception to that rule were nanites made from organic materials like amino acids or minerals that were intended as nutrient distribution for cyborg digestive systems. Food nanites were also required to be fully digestible by organic digestive systems, without causing any ill effects, in order to be approved by the Central Drug Evaluation Council. This was strictly enforced to ensure that any non-cyborg wouldn't be adversely affected by the food nanites if they accidentally consumed food designed for cyborgs.

Sakura merely sighed at Naruto's lame attempt to hide his fear of nanites. She knew it was due to the Naturalist websites he often visited. While Naruto was far more open minded about cybernetics than those extremists, his tendency to visit their websites had only made his phobias grow worse.

She knew the only reason he continued to visit those sites and post on their forums was due to his attempt to find people he could relate with. Sakura didn't know why Naruto was never cyberized and asking about it always caused Naruto to clam up or make some lame excuse to avoid the subject. She knew that many people looked down on him and treated him poorly, but she could never understand why. The animosity was too widespread and targeted to simply be a result of his lack of augmentation. Not even the most outspoken Naturalist bigots were treated with such contempt.

"Let's hurry back to the contestant box so we can wish Sasuke luck before they send him into the tile room," Sakura said with a smile.

Naruto grunted in affirmation before following after Sakura as she left the room.

"So, Sakura-chan, what did you think about my fight?" Naruto said with his arms folded behind his head.

"I think you did a very good job of proving you deserve the rank of Chūnin until you ruined it all by going overboard at the end." Sakura scolded mildly. "If you fool around like that in the final match, they will definitely hold you back."

"Perhaps." Naruto admitted, "But after they so obviously saved his ass the first time, I wanted to make it just as obvious that he was outmatched by my awesomeness."

"And in the process, you revealed a valuable secret that others might exploit in the final battle," Sakura said with a scoff.

"So?" Naruto said flatly. "It's not like they will remove all that water from the stadium before the final fight."

"It doesn't have to be water, Naruto," Sakura said in a mildly chastising tone. "A Raiton user might realize that they can harness all the electromagnetic energy within the tiles to augment their jutsu. In fact, I would speculate that a skilled Raiton user would be able to generate enough power to render all your Fūton jutsu useless." Sakura explained in exasperation.

Naruto paused for a moment before he muttered "Shit." seeing Sakura had continued walking, he rushed to catch up to her.

"That means Sasuke will probably try that in the finals, doesn't it," Naruto grumbled.

Sakura merely nodded her head with a smirk on her face.

"Whatever, I still have plenty of surprises for that bastard. He won't have it so easy when he faces me next." Naruto said confidently before smacking his fist into his hand. "I'm gonna win this whole damn thing!"

"Both of you are just lucky that they saved you from us kunoichi." Sakura teased before flipping a lock of her long hair over her shoulder.

Now that she didn't have to worry about a fight, she wore it loose like she preferred.

"I guess we will just have to settle that in our next sparring match," Naruto replied with a smirk.

As the duo tried to enter the contestant box, they were stopped by a guard.

"We can't allow you back into the contestant box at this time." the guard stated firmly.

"What? Why not?" Naruto asked loudly.

"To ensure that no cheating or contraband is smuggled into the contestant box, no one is allowed to enter or leave until their match is concluded." the guard replied.

"Then just search us again." Sakura snapped. "We want to support our teammate and wish him luck."

"I'm sorry, young lady, but only the competitors are allowed entry at this time." The guard said before looking at Naruto. "As a finalist, you may enter the box now, however, you will not be allowed to leave once you have been cleared to enter."

Naruto scowled at the guard but before he could argue further, Sakura laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Just forget it, Naruto. I'll just go sit with Kakashi-sensei instead," she said softly. "Just tell Sasuke-kun that I will be cheering for him."

"Alright," Naruto said with a sigh before he felt his stomach rumbling. "I think I'll go with you, for now, Sakura-chan. I'm kinda hungry and there is still plenty of time before my next match."

"I could go for some Takoyaki myself, actually," Sakura noted. "Let's go get our wallets from sensei."

Naruto and Sakura turned away from the guard and began making their way up the stairs towards the Jōnin box. As they neared the closed off section of seats above the contestant box, a distant rumble sounded and the stadium began to shake slightly.

"Was that an explosion?" Sakura thought out loud as she watched the light fixtures swaying overhead.

"I dunno," Naruto said as he looked around curiously.

Many of the spectators were also talking amongst themselves and wondering what that noise was. Since the match hadn't begun yet, there were a significant amount of people milling about or making their way to or from the restrooms/concessions stands that were located on the outer ring of the arena.

Another rumble sounded out; much louder and closer this time, and the stadium started to shake more violently. There were a few panicked cries from the people in the stands around them. More people began to talk loudly, questioning what was going on while a few were gathering their belongings and making their way towards the exits.

" **Attention Guests. Please remain calm at this time."** the loudspeaker blared. **"** **There is no need to panic as the stadium is completely secure. Please remain seated while our security** **forces investigate the disturbances."**

The crowd began to settle down after the announcement, for the most part, but Naruto couldn't shake the sense of foreboding he was feeling.

"Come on, Naruto," Sakura said, drawing him out of his thoughts. "I don't know what is going on but the best thing we can do is meet up with Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura and Naruto quickly made their way up the steps towards the section that housed the sensei for the finalists. Spotting Kakashi, Naruto waved at his sensei before picking up the pace with Sakura by his side. Before they could reach Kakashi, however, a louder boom rang out throughout the stadium and the stands began to shake violently once more.

Naruto and Sakura were forced to latch onto the ground with chakra and grip the handrails to avoid falling over. The cries of panic and fear from the audience grew rapidly as parts of the dome and lighting fixtures shook loose and fell on the audience causing injuries. Some people tried to get up and flee, only to trip over their feet and fall onto other people. Other people, who had been out of their seats during the break between fights, lost their footing and tumbled down the stairways. A few unfortunate victims fell from the upper levels, causing more panic and cries of horror to ring out as the audience members saw then fall to their deaths.

While the stadium continued to shake violently, Naruto felt a strange wave of energy flow over him. The energy made his hair stand on end and goosebumps appear on his skin. Naruto turned his head towards Sakura to ask her if she felt that energy as well; only to watch in horror as her body began twitching out of control with a look of shock on her face. Her limbs began to spasm and her grip on the railing slipped causing her to start falling backward.

Naruto was quick to dash forward and grab her twitching arm, but the flailing was making it difficult to maintain his grip on her. Reaching out with his other arm, he wrapped it around her waist and lifted her over his shoulder like a sack of rice. Her arms and legs were still twitching wildly but he was able to get a firmer grip on her by hooking one of her legs through his arm while gripping her forearm.

As Naruto looked around, his heart dropped at the sight of everyone around him suffering from the same thing. Even all the jōnin sensei and security guards were twitching and flailing about as if being electrocuted. There were a few cries ringing out to the Kami while other people were shouting out names of their friends or family members, but the majority of the people were suffering from this strange affliction.

Naruto was at a loss as to what he should do in this situation.

At first, he thought about taking Sakura back to the medical ward, but seeing as practically everyone else was affected by this strange phenomena, he didn't think it would do much good. Right away he suspected it had something to do with that strange energy wave having an effect on cyborgs. It was a startling realization for Naruto to see just how many people were augmented in comparison to him. Out of the hundreds of people in this section alone, there were less than a dozen people who appeared to be unaffected by this strange twitching.

Were there really so few people who remained completely normal? Could he really consider himself normal when it was abundantly clear that the majority of people around him were now cyborgs?

Before he could gather his thoughts, the stadium lights all went dark. Aside from a few cries of shock, the massive stadium was eerily silent. A large clicking sound rang out through the arena and slowly the lights began to turn back on, section by section.

As Naruto shot his gaze towards the illuminated section, that was when he spotted them.

Groups of black cloaked figures began repelling down from the ceiling. He heard a few muffled thumps nearby and felt the chakra signatures of several people appear around him.

Acting quickly, Naruto allowed himself to fall to the ground before his own section was illuminated by the lights; taking care to ensure that Sakura's head didn't hit the ground. Shuffling Sakura's body onto his back in a piggyback position, he began to crawl closer to where he last saw Kakashi before the lights above him clicked on and he was forced to lie still.

Naruto saw the groups of blacked cloaked figures disperse while speaking quietly amongst themselves. Soon they began planting black metal cases that were about the size of a cereal box at the top and bottom of each seating section. There were also groups of these cloaked individuals making their way through each row of seats to subdue and capture people who weren't paralyzed by that energy wave. The captured people were being tied up, gagged, and appeared to be injected with something into their necks before the cloaked people dragged them away towards the arena exits.

Naruto glanced up when he felt two signatures converging on his location. He watched as a pair of the cloaked figures made their way towards him, stopping only to plant the strange case before moving down the stairs towards the next section. They all had combat visors on, probably to help them see in the dark and maintain communications while that strange energy shorted everything out. As they drew closer to him, they stopped to plant one of those cases at the bottom of the seating section directly above the Jōnin box. Naruto watched as they pressed a series of buttons on the small keypad before moving towards him again.

Calming his breathing, he made to feign unconsciousness as they began to draw closer to him. He could tell that there were, at least, two dozen signatures within his sensory range. Most of them had genin level reserves with a few chūnin and jōnin sprinkled amongst them.

Taking them out wouldn't be an option. While he was confident in his skills, there were far too many of them in the area for him to eliminate silently. The only way he could safely take them down would be to make a large amount of Kage Bunshin. Even if none of the people in his area were sensors, the amount of clones he would need to make would draw plenty of attention to him. He may be able to fight them off for a decent amount of time, but then reinforcements would arrive and he would be captured or killed. No, he needed to lie low for now and try to figure out how to get Sakura functional again. She would be the only one capable of disabling those things and getting everyone back on their feet.

As the duo made their way closer to him, Naruto heard them engaged in a conversation and listened closely.

"It looks like Kaminari group didn't make it." a female said sadly.

"It's for a good cause, sister. Today we drive all these filthy foreigners out and cure the plague of cyberization that has afflicted humanity." a man replied vehemently.

"I know," she replied. "It's just... seeing the stadium like this makes me realize just how few of us humans are left." the woman paused before raising her voice. "How can people embrace the elimination of their race so easily? How can people open their arms to these foreigners after everything our people have fought and died for?"

"It's because the foreigners have been subliminally brainwashing our people with their fancy technology. The TV stations and media are all paid to insert their messaging into all the broadcasts and streams that we watch. They even started putting those miniature robots in our food! For all we know, they have been implanting us with mind control machines this whole time." The man said vehemently. "What you see around us? It is just proof that drastic action was needed before the foreigners wipe us out completely. All we can do is send our message to the world to save who we can and eliminate all of the collaborators. Then the foreigners will see they aren't welcome in Genso no Kuni and we can offer a safe haven for the rest of our Naturalist brethren. This will be the dawn of humanity's salvation!"

"If only there was a way to fix what has been done to them all." The woman paused to set a case down next to the Jōnin section. After pressing the keys, Naruto heard a small beep and felt a small pulse of energy that was similar to the first one he felt.

"I mean, bastards like these shinobi could all die for all I care." she stated before kicking a disabled Iwa jōnin "But what about the children that were forced by their parents? What about the people that needed to get implants so they could keep their jobs? They don't deserve to die like this."

"It's too late for them now." The man said coldly. "In times of war, sacrifices must be made, and This. Is. War."

"I know all that, but it's just- so much death. Didn't we join Akatsuki to stop all the senseless killing? Didn't we join because we believed in Yahiko's vision of peace? How does declaring war on the foreigners accomplish that? Shouldn't we just focus on driving them out like all the other times?"

"Don't back down now that the difficult task is in front of us! These cyborgs are trying to eliminate humanity! It's nothing more than genocide!" The man spat. "We might have been able to ignore them in the past because they fought against each other, but now they are beginning to band together against the rest of humanity. If the empire completes its task of enslaving them all with their technology, it will only be a matter of time before they eliminate humanity with overwhelming numbers!"

"You're right. I wasn't thinking properly." The woman relented. "This isn't just about Ame, this is about humanity."

"Right!" the man said encouragingly. "We have a greater mission to uphold! Once Yahiko gives his ultimatum, Ame and the rest of Genso no Kuni will be at peace. The empire will have no choice but to remove all the damn tin brains from our lands and only humans will flourish here."

The pair of Naturalist members moved out of Naruto's hearing range and he allowed himself to let loose a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Being no stranger to Naturalist views, he couldn't help but frown at how zealous this particular group was. He couldn't deny that many of the Naturalists he hung out with online would actually agree with the man's arguments. Many of the people he chatted with online were activists who constantly sought out and fought against organic discrimination and were of the belief that the Empire was deliberately indoctrinating people through cybernetics. An even larger number believed that humans should segregate themselves from cyborgs to risk the "contamination of humanity". Many of the Naturalists wanted to form their own country where cybernetics were heavily restricted or outlawed completely.

Testing his surroundings with his senses, Naruto deemed it safe to lift his head and study the box nearest to him. He might not be technologically savvy, but any little detail he could pick up might provide him with some clue on how to disable the thing. Besides the most obvious characteristics of being black and made of metal, there was a small keypad and LED screen that was attached to the side of the device.

On top of the box was a small gray box with an antenna that had a pulsing, blue light at the tip. At first glance, the device looked similar to some of the bombs he had seen on TV shows. There was no way he was going to meddle with something like that considering how poor his technology skills were and he wasn't confident enough in his observation skills to try and replicate whatever sequence they had inputted into the device earlier.

Naruto looked towards his left shoulder where Sakura's head was currently resting. Her face was still frozen in that shocked expression, but Naruto could see her eyes moving. She locked her gaze onto Naruto for a moment before looking up at the case. It looked like she tried to speak, but all that happened was her jaw twitched slightly and a low moan escaped from her lips.

Looking around carefully, he saw all of the terrorists were starting to make their way to the lower levels of the current deck. Looking back at Sakura, he saw her make the same gesture with her eyes once more before moaning louder. Her arm twitched slightly and he felt her finger start to tap against his chest lightly. It took him a few moments to realize she was tapping a message, but after she repeated the pattern, he understood.

"Okay, Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered.

He sensed a few people moving around above him and risked a glance in their direction. Seeing that they were facing away from him and distracted, he began crawling towards the device while keeping a careful eye on his surroundings. He risked a glance down towards the bottom and saw that the chatty terrorists were still absorbed in their discussion instead of keeping a watch on his section.

As he drew closer to the case, as Sakura had instructed him to, she tapped out a message for him to lay the case flat with the keyboard facing her. Quickly checking his surroundings, Naruto managed to tilt the case over quietly before sliding it closer to Sakura's arm. With her being on top of him, however, it wasn't possible for her to reach the device or the keyboard.

Checking his surroundings one more, Naruto slowly pulled Sakura off of his back and tucked her body into the nearest row so she was partially underneath a seat before rolling her onto her side so her back was facing the stairway. Quickly snatching up the case, Naruto tucked it underneath the seat in front of her face. He gently took her arm and placed it so that her hand rested directly on the keyboard. As he moved himself to cover her body to conceal her movements, he sensed agitation in the nearby chakra signatures and risked glancing up.

One of the members was pointing directly at him and speaking to the others which caused the entire group to focus on him.

"Shit. I've been spotted." Naruto whispered to Sakura before looking into her eyes. "I'm sorry about leaving you like this, Sakura-chan, but I'll lead them off so you can stop whatever that thing is."

Sakura was looking at him with watery eyes and let out a grunt. Naruto gave her a small smile and small nod. He knew she was worried and was telling him to be careful in her own way. It made his heart grow warm and helped relieve the guilt for leaving her while she was vulnerable. While he hated it, he knew he had to give her the chance to undo whatever was harming everyone. If he could lead enough of them off, they might forget about her and the device.

Besides it had been quite some time since he had led people on a merry chase. It was time to get wild.

As the group began rushing down the stairs towards him, Naruto leaped to his feet and sent a volley of shuriken to slow the group down. He popped a food pill to replenish some of his chakra before bolting away from the group. As he neared the chatty guards, he debated killing them instead of injuring them.

His training said to kill them, regardless of the threat to the hostages, but if those devices also had bombs built into them, these people might not hesitate to detonate them in retaliation. Considering that all the hostages were cyborgs, Naruto was certain it wouldn't bother them in the least to blow up a few dozen just to make a point.

They were also actively capturing and removing people who weren't cyborgs, so that meant his odds of being captured instead of killed were high if he didn't piss them off too much. They would be less willing to chase him for a long period of time if they wanted to kill him, so it was best if he remained a target for capture instead of elimination.

With his mind made up, he pulled out two kunai and ducked under the chatty terrorist's attempts to grab him before jamming his kunai into their thighs. It would slow them down but wouldn't be a fatal wound unless they left it unattended for too long. He continued dashing down the stairs before making his way towards one of the tunnels that led towards the outer ring of the stadium. Looking over his shoulder, he was happy to see that all of the cloaked people in this section were currently chasing after him. Now he just needed to keep them occupied long enough for Sakura to work her magic.

"Stop him! He took one of the pulse emitters!" someone shouted.

Naruto had to keep the smirk off of his face when he heard that. If they thought he took the device then Sakura would be free to tamper with the device as long as he kept up the charade. As he neared the tunnel towards the concession stands, he saw a group of four terrorists emerge with various weapons in their hands. Forming his trademark seal, Naruto summoned as many Kage Bunshin as he could.

A large cloud of smoke engulfed his form and he quickly ordered one clone Henge into a copy of the device. Tucking the device clone into his gi top, he made certain to leave the blue flashing antenna peaking out so his pursuers would notice the thing. With that task done, the blond quickly reversed his current direction and began to take off towards the lower section of the deck. His clones scattered in various directions making for the different tunnels and stairwells to force the pursuit team to split up. As he ran, he noticed that more of those cloaked terrorists were appearing from the stairs and tunnels, but his clones were doing a fine job of luring many of the reinforcements away from his position.

For several minutes, his clones ran rampant and evaded all attempts at being dispelled. It was only after a few of the cloaked men began yelling out instructions that Naruto began receiving feedback from his dispelled clones. Fortunately, his intuition had been correct. All of his clones had been dispelled with non-lethal attacks that were meant to hinder or subdue him instead of outright killing him. While evading the attacks sent in his direction, Naruto kept glancing back towards Sakura's location and was happy to see they left her completely unattended. Now he needed to fool them into thinking he got rid of the device so they wouldn't go back to search the area when they did catch him.

Naruto began flipping through hand seals as he neared one of the exit tunnels ahead. He could sense there was a pair of people lurking within to try and cut him off or catch him by surprise. Drawing on the moisture in the air around him, he used Suiton: Mizu Shuriken to create several volleys of aquatic shuriken and sent them flying down the tunnel as soon as he turned into the entrance.

The group of terrorists blocking his path scattered to the sides to avoid the attacks, giving him a window to Shunshin (Body Flicker) towards the staircase. Naruto began hopping down the stairs one flight at a time before he was forced to duck into the hallway to avoid a large group of terrorists rushing up the stairs to cut him off.

Looking left and right quickly, he saw an open air balcony designed for smokers and made his way towards it. He heard the echoing of footsteps behind him and more shouting as more terrorists began to converge on his location. Three more terrorists came around the corner of the hallway in front of him, forcing the blond to engage them in taijutsu or be caught.

He ducked under a cross and countered with a jab to the man's groin before spinning away from a lunging grab and planting a spinning hook kick into the grappler's ribs. Dive rolling away from a rising kick intended for his abs, Naruto grew closer to the balcony and pulled out the "device". Certain that the terrorists were watching him, he threw his Henged clone off the balcony before leaping up onto the rails and running down the side of the arena while gripping to the wall with his chakra.

The rain-slicked surface was difficult to cling to and he began to slip a bit. Not wanting to risk falling to his death, he leaped towards a nearby LED sign. Running across the sign, he spotted a small overhang that covered another smoking area on the lowest deck of the arena. With a chakra laced jump, he sprung towards the overhang, using chakra to grip to it with his hands and swung himself into the smoking area.

Seeing the coast was clear, for the moment, he quickly dashed towards the far side of the arena, hoping to draw the attention of terrorists on the far side of the arena. The more of these guys he pulled along on his merry chase, the more time Sakura would have to free the rest of the cyborgs.

Naruto heard the distant echo of footsteps and voices coming from the stairwells behind him. As he rounded the corner, however, he ran straight into a group of four terrorists that seemed to be caught off guard by his sudden appearance.

Taking advantage of their surprise, he jumped into the air and sent one flying with a side kick before launching himself off of his first target to land a chakra enhanced spinning hook kick to send a second man flying towards the wall. Landing in a low crouch, he immediately lashed out with a low sweep to the third man, but the other pair were ready for him and jumped back out of range of his kick.

Naruto stared the two men down while mentally debating which stance he should take up. Crane was usually the go-to style for defensive forms, but Naruto felt that he was better off lashing out with some debilitating attacks so he could run away instead of hanging around to be overwhelmed. He wasn't fully versed with Snake form yet since it was one of the later forms to study in his scroll list so Naruto dropped into the defensive form of Dragon stance for now. It would give him the strength to lash out with powerful attacks while still having a good amount of maneuverability to evade when the opportunity arose.

The two terrorists stared at him menacingly in an attempt to intimidate him before they began equipped themselves with weapons and dropped into a standard taijutsu stance. One of the men pulled out a pair of stun gloves and quickly pulled them onto his fists before testing the shocking capabilities by clashing his fists together. The small spark indicated that the gloves were fully operational, and Naruto knew that one hit from those gloves would likely paralyze him. The second man pulled out a simple shock baton and flipped the switch on the handle causing the baton to light up a dull yellow color.

The glove-wearing man rushed in first, delivering a jab, hook combination towards Naruto's face to distract the blond from his follow up uppercut aimed at his solar plexus.

Naruto parried the first jab before ducking the cross and deflecting the uppercut. He then went on the offensive, lashing out with a jab, low cross, and another jab to the face. The man managed to block all of the attacks but before he could counter, Naruto followed up with a left hook, spinning back fist and a low cross.

The hook was ducked, but the man rose back up and tried to throw a straight cross that was deflected by Naruto's pivoting body. The back fist landed, striking the man in the jaw and the low cross struck the man in the solar plexus forcing him to cough up spittle as he stumbled back. The man with the baton charged at Naruto from his flank and was pushed back with a chakra enhanced back kick that sent him flying back a few feet before he tumbled across the ground.

The gloved man charged back in with his fist cocked back for an overhead cross, but Naruto pivoted on his heel and landed a jumping spinning back kick just as the man committed to his punch. As the man stumbled backward, Naruto charged forward to try and finish him off but was forced to lean back when a third man tried to nail him in the jaw with an overextended cross.

The third man pushed Naruto on the defensive with rapid combinations of jabs, crosses, and the occasional hook. Naruto ducked and weaved between the punches while trying to lash out with counter attacks but the man's guard was too good. The whiskered teen tried to block a hook and counter with a straight cross to the man's gut but underestimated how strong his opponent truly was. The hook was powerful enough to send him stumbling to the side, breaking his stance and concentration. Before Naruto could get his feet under him to evade the next attack, however, he took a strong shot to the jaw which caused his vision to falter under the force of the strike.

The man followed up with another powerful shot to Naruto's gut, forcing the blond to crumple with the blow or risk losing his breath. The man lashed out with a cross aimed at Naruto's jaw once more, but Naruto managed to recover in time to block the attack.

Naruto quickly lashed out with an uppercut as he blocked the cross, catching his opponent off guard and driving his fist into the man's diaphragm. With a brief opening to attack, Naruto was quick to capitalize on the moment, sending out a flurry of punches to the man's abdomen before leaning back to avoid the retaliatory hook.

Planting his hands on the ground as he nimbly evaded the powerful hook, Naruto brought one of his legs up to drive a front rising kick to the man's unprotected jaw before doing a back walkover to get back on his feet. With his focus on the man in front of him, he was unprepared for the low kick to his knee that forced him to drop to his knees. Naruto barely managed to bring his hands up in time to block a shin kick to his face, but before he could roll away or strike back, his luck ran out. The baton wielder he had kicked away at the start of this skirmish had finally recovered from the chakra powered kick and had managed to charge forward and drive his electrified weapon into Naruto's back.

A stunning jolt of electricity traveled through his body, causing his muscles to lock.

Naruto cried out in pain as the baton shocked him, falling face first on the ground paralyzed from the attack. Any attempt at moving was only met with small muscle spasms or twitches from his limbs, causing Naruto to inwardly curse at his failure to keep track of his enemies. He should have sensed the man approaching him from behind, but he had been too focused on trying to break his opponent's guard that he tuned out his senses.

A fatal flaw he had been trying to fix for quite some time.

The men wasted no time in binding his hands and feet together with chakra blocking cuffs before slapping a piece of tape over his mouth to gag him. Naruto knew there would be no further resistance on his part and let himself go limp for the moment. The only way he would get out of this mess now was to cooperate until an opportunity presented itself.

"We got you now, you little bastard." one man taunted.

The man with the stun gloves took a quick cheap shot by striking Naruto in the ribs causing another jolt of electricity to run through his body. Naruto let out another garbled cry of pain as his body started to twitch again. The man gripped Naruto's hair roughly and pulled his head up to look him in the face.

"You caused us a lot of trouble, stupid brat." The man said with a smirk. "Led us on a merry little chase, didn't you? Too bad it was all for nothing." The man spat. "You think getting rid of that pulse emitter solved anything? We have layered this entire stadium with hundreds of them. I don't know how you resisted the EMP, canned meat, but it's the end of the line for you."

"Hold it." another man called out. "He's not one of them."

"What?" The smirking man shouted. "There is no way this little shit could have that kind of strength and reflexes without a prosthetic body. I've been training longer than this kid has been alive!"

"I guess that means you need to train harder, Toshiro, because the scanner doesn't lie. The kid is completely organic." the other man retorted.

"Tanaka is right." Another man stated with a chuckle. "The kid is just better than you are. Hell, He even put up a good fight against me and you know that I _always_ kick your ass in a spar."

The man glared at Naruto before releasing his grip on his hair. Naruto heard the man growl in anger before storming away. He felt someone grip the back of his gi before being pulled to his feet. Looking up he saw the man who had overpowered him in hand to hand. The man was studying him with interest.

"You're not bad, kid." the man complimented. "I haven't seen that kind of style before. If you had faced me in a few more years, you might have given me trouble."

Naruto merely glared at the man, unable to really say, or do, anything.

"I know you think what we are doing here is bad, but soon you will see the truth and realize that we are trying to save you." the man said sincerely. "Because I like that fire in your eyes, I'll give you a bit of advice. When Nagato comes for you, don't bother resisting. It will only cause you a great deal of pain and suffering for no reason. Everyone succumbs to him in the end. _Everyone_."

The man looked behind Naruto and said. "Hit him with it and don't let any of those idiots take out their frustration on him. If Yahiko learns you guys have been beating on kids, he will have all our hides."

Naruto felt a sharp pinch in his neck and grunted. It didn't take him long to feel light headed as the drug raced through his system. His limbs felt heavy and he gave no resistance when he was slung over someone's shoulder and carried out of the arena. He managed to fight the drug long enough to see them taking him towards the large tower in the center of the village before his vision grew dark and he slipped into unconsciousness.

 **With Sakura**

* * *

Sakura watched with trepidation as Naruto leaped up to lure the attackers away from her. She heard several different sets of footsteps chase after him while two people stopped next to her. Her heart began to race in fear that she would be discovered, but she heard a man yell out: "Stop him! He took one of the pulse emitters!"

"Damn that brat! Isn't he one of the semi-finalists?" a woman said.

"Yea. He was that Konoha brat with the crazy Suiton manipulation." a man replied.

"Why would he take the pulse emitter?" the woman asked.

"Maybe he is going to try and take it as evidence?" the man said in an uncertain tone. "Don't worry, he won't get far."

"Do we need a replacement emitter?" the woman asked with concern.

"Nah. They will catch that brat and replace it soon enough. Let's continue scanning the rest of these rows so we can give the all clear on this section. We need to move back to the basement and ensure the generators are guarded within the next 15 minutes if we want to remain on schedule." The man said.

She heard footsteps moving away from her and allowed herself to sigh in relief. She waited a few more minutes to ensure that no one was returning before she started to make her move.

It had taken her a large amount of effort to even move her finger and tap out a message on Naruto's chest. She was glad Naruto managed to remember the tapping code and was impressed that he had the foresight to tuck her away in a position where she could manipulate the keyboard while keeping the device concealed. Hearing the man's shout as Naruto led them away confirmed her suspicions of an EMP device being used by the attackers. Thankfully she had been in the process of shielding the vital components of her prosthesis due to her encounter with the Kumo-nin, so she had been partially protected from EMP pulses as well.

While she had heard theories about EMP devices being used in the past, she had never seen one in action before. Not even on videos posted on HAEvN.

Most electromagnetic technologies were too low grade to be considered a risk or outright banned due to the growing amount of cyborgs in the world. With many vital systems running on computers and machinery, it was also counterproductive for rival nations to use such weaponry. With the damage and setbacks done to humanity from the previous wars, the nations of the world had unanimously agreed to eliminate and ban such weaponry.

When she had been hit by that first EMP blast, her control software had been knocked offline and her limbs started twitching violently. Her vision had faded temporarily until her backup systems kicked in and began rebooting all systems in autistic mode to ensure that there were no external systems causing the disruption to her cyberbrain. Despite her shielding, however, that first blast had been powerful enough to overwhelm her security measures.

Thankfully her modified carbon-based nanite repair system was completely unaffected and was already repairing any damage she had received. She would have been permanently disabled from that shockwave if it weren't for those nanites. She was glad that she shelled out the extra ryō for the reinforced housing unit for the little guys since their central processing cores had been completely protected from the pulse.

The only problem now was disabling the continual pulses being emitted by these devices. While they were lower in strength, Sakura believed they were designed to simply disrupt motor movement and wireless connectivity. Even with her control software coming back online, the pulses were enough to severely hamper her motor functions and prevent her from connecting to HAEvN or TRELLIS to transmit a distress signal.

She would have to look into some type of induction shielding for all her components in the future, but first, she had to disable these pulse boxes and find a way to work around the effects. Once she could get herself and the other shinobi back in action, she could save Naruto and stop these damn Naturalist zealots.

Maybe now Naruto would listen to her about staying away from those sites and to stop trying to associate with those idiots!

With great effort, she managed to start typing into the keypad with slow, deliberate movements. It didn't take her long to bring up the debug shell menu and begin parsing the information she needed: The technical details of the wavelength being used for the pulse and how to safely disable the device. She spotted a low-tech monitoring program that was installed to report the device's status to a remote terminal.

'What a simple code base. They didn't even change the default admin passwords or access codes.' Sakura thought with a scoff. 'It's a good thing these terrorists are all Naturalist idiots or this would have been far more difficult.' Sakura mused as she quickly used the administrator access to change the access codes and reprogrammed the monitoring software to report false positives for all the devices in the arena.

Unfortunately, the deactivation software was far more sophisticated. She would need a computer, remote terminal, or a very powerful data pad in order to hack the software and disable all the devices. The only other way to shut them all down would be to deactivate them all manually.

As she worked on disabling this particular device, she pondered the fallout from the first EMP blast. From the last statistics she had seen online, the majority of Genso no Kuni opted for minor nanoscale implants or partial cyberization instead of full cyberization like she had. Their brains wouldn't be encased in shielded metal like her own and were far more vulnerable to EMP damage.

While the odds of them having vital bodily functions tied to their cyberbrain would be low, the metal components in their implants may have caused the electromagnetic field to become concentrated enough to cause significant damage to their organic brains. If that were the case, the continual pulses were only causing more brain damage to those people as time elapsed.

If they had survived the initial blast of course.

Sakura forced herself to push that thought aside as she continued to work. She could only hope that the standardized shielding included in all implants had been enough to prevent such damage. Otherwise, the death toll would be staggering.

Sakura finished her work and managed to shut the device down. Breathing a sigh of relief as she felt some of her basic systems coming back online now that the device was disabled. From her estimates, half of the Jōnin box and the seating section next to it should recover functionality of their bodies and limbs in a few moments.

She briefly tried to establish a link with HAEvN or TRELLIS, but it seemed that all wireless signals were being jammed or had been shut down entirely. As she scanned the different frequencies trying to find a possible connection she could use, her thoughts drifted towards her team.

'Poor Kakashi-sensei.' Sakura thought. 'To think he only recently augmented himself to help with the chakra drain of his Sharingan only to suffer from something like this. He is never going to let me and Sasuke live this down.'

Releasing a sigh, Sakura closed her eyes and allowed herself to rest for a moment. She was worried about Sasuke and how his body was affected. Knowing that the Uchiha weren't very tech savvy and despised cybernetics, it was likely they had only outfitted him with the bare minimum or low-quality prosthesis. If his cyberbrain wasn't properly shielded...

She cut that thought off right away. She had to remain positive if she was to find a way out of this situation and stop... whatever was going on.

Next, her thoughts drifted to Naruto. She doubted the Naturalists would do anything harmful to him because he was fully organic, but if he struggled too much they might kill him. When she figured out he had been spotted, she knew that it had been a smart move on his part to lure them away. However, the longer he believed she was in danger, the higher the chances of him doing something stupid would become. The only way to prevent him from doing something rash was to remain in sight so he could be certain she was safe.

She knew full well how Naruto felt about her and while it was flattering, she still held strong feelings for her raven teammate. While time and proximity with the Uchiha had helped to dim her idolization of him, she was still partially infatuated with Sasuke. She mused that old habits truly did die hard.

At first his cool and stoic demeanor had been refreshing to her. The rest of the boys in the Academy had seemed so immature, brash, and uncouth when compared to his mature and smooth demeanor. Now she could see how frustrating that personality could be in a relationship. Getting Sasuke to express his feelings would be difficult, rare, and subtle. While it might be slightly different if Sasuke found a woman he truly loved, the Uchiha clan, by in large, were not known for displays of affection. Even when they were behind closed doors.

Naruto was the complete opposite of Sasuke. He was warm, caring, and very free with his emotions. She could easily see Naruto being very affectionate with his woman. In public and in private, the knucklehead wouldn't really care about his surroundings. In fact, the odds of Naruto doing something sweet in public were just as likely as him doing something stupid and embarrassing. He could be such a dense idiot at times, but other times he was amazingly perceptive.

'Please don't do anything stupid, Naruto.' Sakura thought.

 **VIP Box**

* * *

When the first explosions rang out, Hanzō's guard went on immediate alert and began contacting various checkpoints and guard stations around the village. As they called for situation reports, the final explosions hit and the EMP shock wave disabled them all. Only Ōnoki, A, Yagura, and Hiruzen were unaffected by the blast.

As the four leaders stood to take some sort of action, they were halted by the orange haired bartender and the blue haired waitress.

"If I were you, I wouldn't move." The man said while raising his hand to reveal a strange detonator of some sort. "This here is called a dead man's switch and it is connected to a network of bombs planted around the stadium and throughout the city. If you so much as move wrong, everyone dies. If you kill me, everyone dies. If any foreign chakra were to land on my body, everyone dies. So don't even bother with genjutsu because I would prefer to live and spread my message. If you guys play it cool, everyone will walk away from this unharmed once my demands are met."

The blue haired woman moved towards the entrance of the VIP box and dragged the twitching guards inside, admitting a handful of terrorists dressed in black cloaks and carrying broadcasting equipment. As the men began to set up the equipment, Hiruzen decided to take a risk and ask the man some questions.

"Why you are doing this? What you hope to achieve?" Hiruzen asked calmly.

"All teams have reported in, Yahiko." The woman interjected. "We have detained thirty humans and are relocating them to a safe area. The teams report that 12 of them are shinobi and there is a single ninken with them. One of the finalists managed to snatch a device and toss it into the waterway, but the patrol teams managed to capture him before he alerted anyone."

The orange haired man had a grim expression on his face after listening to the woman's report.

"So few?" He said quietly. "Well, at least that means we will have 12 new brothers in arms once Nagato makes them see the truth," he added in a suddenly cheery tone. "Make certain you tell them to treat the prisoner's well until Nagato gets to them."

Hiruzen suspected he was bipolar.

"As for your question, Hokage-sama." The man named Yahiko turned to him with a sneer. "What I plan to do here is spread our message to the world and drive out the foreign invaders to protect humanity."

"Why threaten to blow up your own citizens then?" the Sandaime asked with his typical stone-faced expression. "How does that stop the foreigners from spreading their influence?"

Yahiko studied Hiruzen with a calculating gaze for a moment before responding.

"Because they have already been infected by our enemies. With their implants and connections to HAEvN, their minds have already been twisted and enslaved to the goals of the Nehan empire." Yahiko said flatly. "As long as they are around, they will continue to spread the corruption to others and humanity will die a slow death."

Yahiko began to pace in front of the Kage while he went into a rant. "I dreamed of forming the Akatsuki when I was a starving child orphaned during the height of the Second War. Seeing all the death and devastation wreaked by both Konoha and Iwa in a war that we had nothing to do with enraged me. At first, people thought it was a silly dream and simply wanted to forget the pain of the past, but it didn't take long for you bastards to turn my country into your playground of destruction once more. With your actions, my dream became a reality, so I suppose I should thank you for that." the man said facetiously. "With the help of Hanzō, my group grew stronger and gained more followers. Every time we helped evacuate the civilians and protect our lands from you invaders, our influence and numbers grew. We fed and clothed all the homeless and orphaned children using whatever resources and donations we could scrounge up and earned the respect of our people. After witnessing so much suffering and death, I was glad that Hanzō decided to isolate us from the rest of you warmongers." Yahiko spat.

The orange haired man paced away from the Kage and looked out of the window towards the village.

"After the Third War was over, we concentrated on healing the trauma of endless wars and helped to rebuild our country. We finally had peace and safety from the rest of the world and our people started to flourish once more. Everything was going fine until Hanzō betrayed us all by admitting those foreigners into our lands." Yahiko said with a growl as he turned to glare at Hanzō's twitching form. "We considered you our hero! We trusted you to put the best interests of Ame before anything else! But as soon as those corporate bastards come in, you spread your arms to them like a whore spreads her legs. As you continued to get bloated on the wealth they funneled to you, our people were systematically being enslaved and indoctrinated to the damn foreigners."

"What does this have to do with us?" The Raikage cut in.

"Just like Hanzo, you bastards are guilty of letting the foreigners gain a foothold in our lands. We know that they first set up shop in Konoha because of the Yondaime. We know that Kumo was soon to follow as well. And while the Sandaime here did take efforts to limit or curtail their influence, you still allowed your people to be enslaved by their technology." Yahiko said before moving to stand in front of the Hokage.

"I know you don't like them interfering in our lands and are trying to undermine them at every turn. So, I have to ask you, why? Why did you allow them to continue converting your people into their pawns?" he asked with a genuine look of curiosity.

Hiruzen sighed. "You are right that I don't like or trust the foreigners or their technology, but the Daimyō approved their entry into the village. With his decree, there wasn't much I could do to stop them. I never understood exactly _why_ Minato also agreed to the allow them into the village, but I suspect he saw the benefits of the technology and wanted to learn to utilize it for ourselves. Once we had learned all there was to know, we could implement that technology without the influence of the outsiders."

"And that is why my group is taking this action. All of you, along with the Daimyō, are the cause of this infection spreading. We will use you to send a message to the empire. Once we are done here, it will be clear to them that we are not interested in their idealism or meddling. With the Daimyō and all of you under our control, we will effect change across our nation and take back our lands." Yahiko said passionately.

"What about Iwa? Iwa has done nothing to support the foreigners and we have even tried to drive them out." Ōnoki said indignantly.

"Don't treat me like an idiot." Yahiko snarled at him. "I know you are only trying to play both sides to benefit your own village. I know you have been fostering diplomatic ties with Hanzō in order to gain access to the technology without having to deal with the foreigners themselves. Did you really think you could just establish trade with us and allow that technology to spread freely without the foreigners gaining some influence over your people?." Yahiko said with a huff.

"The fact of the matter is that _no_ outsiders can be tolerated. Their technology is all rife with mind control and indoctrination elements that can not be allowed. There can not be half measures or compromise when it comes to this. Cyborgs, AI, and all that technology must not be allowed." Yahiko stated firmly. "And while we hold all the cards, we will also end the corrupt shinobi system and bring peace to our lands by ending the rule of the Daimyō and eliminating the Kage system. The people will be in charge of their own fate and will no longer be forced to bow and serve to the entitled few who feed on the backs of the starving and poor."

'This guy is an absolute nutcase.' A thought.

'This will not end well.' Hiruzen thought. 'There can be no discussion or compromise with him. Either it is all or nothing and in the end, it will be nothing at the cost of so many innocent lives.'

"If that is all, please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable," Yahiko said with a cheery tune that Hiruzen now saw as false. "There is still plenty of drinks and food for you to enjoy the upcoming show. Remember, as long as you don't make any hostile moves, your people in the stadium will remain safe and unharmed. Try anything and I won't hesitate to send all of us to the pure lands.

The four Kage stood uncertainly for a moment before Yahiko waved the detonator in his hand in a mocking manner. After that, Hiruzen decided to simply settle back into his seat and begin trying to find a way out of this mess. The Raikage, Mizukage, and Tsuchikage followed him shortly afterward, all lost in thought as well as they considered a possible way to stop the madman from fulfilling his goals.

'I hate to admit it but he does have us all by the balls.' A thought. 'With the Daimyō and all of us trapped in here, there isn't any leverage against him.'

'If I had an opening, I am certain my Jinton (Dust Release) can eliminate him without setting any bombs off.' Ōnoki thought. 'All I need is a distraction.'

'It might be wise to just sit this out.' Yagura thought. 'The Sanbi will likely protect me from the blast but if I live through this while everyone else dies, the survivors will likely try to blame the "demon" for this mess. I already have to deal with enough of that crap back home I don't need the entire nation blaming me.'

'There must be some way to stop this zealot, but how?' Hiruzen thought to himself as he tried to plan an escape. 'If Ōnoki hits him with Jinton (Dust Release) it might eliminate the threat, but the Jinton is easy to spot and slow moving. He could set the bomb off in retaliation. A could probably rush him with his Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Armor) but the shock from his armor will trigger the bomb if the man doesn't manage to detonate it after being struck.'

Hiruzen sighed and pulled his pipe out. Considering the situation they were in, he doubted anyone would complain about him smoking anymore. Lighting his pipe, he studied the cyborgs who lie twitching on the ground and wondered how long they could remain in that state before permanent damage would be done.

He recalled Yahiko's earlier statement about the organics and couldn't help but feel concern for Naruto. He didn't know what they planned to do with those unaugmented people or how they planned to "make them see the truth" but he could only pray to the Kami that Naruto didn't force them to kill him.

He could only hope that he didn't lose too many people to this whole mess.

 **With Sasuke**

* * *

Sasuke shook off the numbness and tingling in his limbs as he rose up from the ground. He didn't know why that sudden power surge had such an effect on his body, but he was glad that his mother had the foresight to test his affinity before his body parts were replaced. He didn't know how long he had been out for, but now that he was fully operational he was going to find out what the hell was going on.

Knowing he had a strong affinity for Raiton instead of Katon meant that his prosthetic limbs and cyberbrain needed high-quality induction shielding to withstand some of the stronger jutsu he would learn in the future. His father was going to simply get him the simple, run of the mill, body parts, but Itachi had blown most of his Anbu savings to help Sasuke get the full state of the art combat package and lifetime replacement package. This ensured that his limbs would be automatically upgraded, repaired, and resized as he grew older without having to pay extra.

Any additional customization would have to be paid out of his own pocket, but he was satisfied with what he had to date. Sakura was constantly suggesting certain tweaks and recommendations but he didn't want to void the warranty and replacement package by getting upgrades or customized parts from unauthorized dealers. When he found something interesting, he would just return to Kyokutō and have them install the modifications without worrying about the details.

Looking around, he noticed that all of the other contestants inside of the box were also on the ground unconscious or twitching from that mysterious overload. The only genin that was unaffected was one of his own opponents. The one name Minoru from Ame who was currently gaping at him with a shocked expression on his face.

"How the hell...?" The Ame genin shouted at him. "You tin brains were supposed to be eliminated from by the EMP."

Sasuke scowled at the boy before activating his Sharingan.

"So, your village is responsible for this?" Sasuke said coolly, seamlessly trapping the boy in a genjutsu as the fool stared into his eyes.

"The Akatsuki is and we are going to purge all you implanted filth from our lands." The genin shouted before drawing his ninjato.

"Hmph. You're just a pathetic, narrow-minded, zealot." Sasuke said with a sneer. "It won't take long for me to eliminate an idiot like you."

Minoru roared as he charged forward, leaping over the other immobile genin in the contestant box. Sasuke met his charge with an angular block to allow his opponent's blade to slide off to his left before bringing his blade around to slash at the genin's neck.

Minoru countered by dropping low to the ground and slashing at Sasuke's limbs. The Uchiha merely hopped over the blade before lashing out with a snap kick to the Ame genin's face. While his head was rocked back, Sasuke landed on top of the enemy's ninjato, snapping it into pieces.

With a snarl, Minoru tried to lunge towards Sasuke and tackle him to the ground, but instead of making contact with the raven's body, he phased through it instead. Before he could realize what had happened, Sasuke ended his life by jabbing his chokuto into the genin's skull.

Sasuke kicked the body off of one of the Suna shinobi that was laying on the ground disabled so he wouldn't have to deal with a corpse bleeding on him. Other than that, he wasn't really sure what he could do to help them. He decided his best course of action was to try and find Sakura and Naruto.

As he stepped out of the contestant box, he felt a little disorientation and buzzing along his sense receptors on his arms and legs. Applying a quick transparency genjutsu over himself, he studied the arena and saw that most of the audience was disabled like he had been earlier. He also took note of the strange black boxes that were systematically placed throughout the arena while pairs of guards in strange black cloaks were guarding every entrance and exit to the various seating sections.

Just like the genin had shouted out earlier, it appeared that some sort of attack was occurring or had occurred on the stadium. Sasuke took note of the slashed Ame headbands of the closest guards before moving off towards the last place he had seen Kakashi. As he drew closer, he saw several guards emerge from a nearby tunnel who were all talking about chasing and capturing one of the finalists. When he heard one of them grumbling about clones, he knew immediately it was Naruto.

'So that idiot managed to get captured. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise with how many people are here.' Sasuke thought as he waited for the group to move past him.

As the cloaked figures spread out, Sasuke saw two people with leg wounds being helped towards one of the tunnels. He scanned the area for any more patrols before turning his gaze towards the Jōnin box. Seeing the area was currently unguarded, the Uchiha cautiously made his way over while trying to spot Kakashi or Sakura. It took him several minutes to find the familiar spiky white hair of his sensei laid out on the ground in the sixth row, but he wasn't able to see Sakura until he moved past the third row.

Sasuke smirked to himself as he saw Sakura immobilized on the ground. 'After all that nagging and hassling to upgrade my body, it turns out mine is better protected than her own. I just know it's going to drive her crazy.'

It took him a few minutes to realize that the strange buzzing sensation he had been feeling from the devices was more subdued in the area. He also realized that Sakura was positioned in a way that was not possible to fall into naturally. Immediately he realized that she had been purposely tucked underneath the seats for some reason. Maybe by Naruto, before he was captured. Sasuke looked around quickly once more before approaching Sakura and crouching next to her and casting a subtle genjutsu over the area so he could reveal himself to her.

As soon as he dropped his transparency jutsu, he saw Sakura glance over towards him before she slowly rolled onto her back and began rapidly flowing through hand signs to communicate. While her hand movements were jerky and imprecise, Sasuke was able to understand the message she was relaying. Once she had finished signing out her message, Sasuke began updating her with what he had observed and overheard. The two of them began formulating a plan on how to wake up the rest of the Jōnin without giving themselves away to the cloaked shinobi.

After a few minutes of hashing out a plan, Sasuke told Sakura to wait before he moved over towards Kakashi's body. As he drew closer to his sensei, he could see that the Copy-Nin was still immobile but aware of his surroundings. Kneeling down, he relayed the plan to Kakashi before reaching into his sensei's pouch to find the silencing seals. Pulling out four tags, Sasuke went around the seating area, slapping a tag down at each corner before activating them. Soon, the entire Jōnin box was now sound proof and would be easier to conceal with a visual genjutsu. While he could mask sound as well as movement with his Sharingan fueled illusions, it was far more chakra taxing and easier to dispel than fūinjutsu seals.

With the area now relatively secure, Sasuke began a quick headcount of the area. Within the Jōnin box, he could see 18 Jōnin and genin. From what he had seen during his trek from the contestant box, he estimated that there were 30 – 40 of those cloaked individuals roaming around the stadium. Half of those people wouldn't be an immediate threat since they were clear on the other side of the stadium but it was possible that there were far more enemies unaccounted for. The Arena had several floors of covered hallways that contained gift shops, concessions stands, service corridors, restrooms, and smoking balconies. With Naruto drawing off a significant group of them with his diversion attempt, it was likely the final number was closer to 50 or 60 at most.

A brief scan of those closest to him revealed that most of these attackers had chakra levels at or below his own level. There were a few that had significantly larger chakra then he did, but none of them came close to the levels that Kakashi or Naruto had. If it came down to direct conflict against these attackers, Sasuke felt confident they could come out of the battle victorious as long as their numbers didn't exceed his current estimates. The only question in his mind that he couldn't form a satisfactory theory on was what the attackers wanted and why they went through such an effort to subdue everyone instead of killing them outright.

As time elapsed, he felt less of the strange buzzing and noticed more people starting to stir within the Jōnin section. Fortunately, the cloaked individuals seemed to be satisfied that things were under their control because the numbers of cloaked people patrolling the seating sections were starting to decrease steadily. Now there was only a pair of guards watching each tunnel entrance with a single guard posted to watch over three seating sections. If his calculations were correct, that left 12 guards on this side of the stadium that he could visibly see.

As he saw Kakashi stirring, Sasuke made his way over to his sensei to fill him in on what he knew. A few other jōnin were starting to sit up as well and low conversations were being held between those that were mobile. Sakura was busy tapping away at one of those strange emitters and a few curious jōnin were watching her as she worked.

Kakashi groaned as he rubbed his head before a half lidded eye locked onto Sasuke.

"Where is Naruto?"

Sasuke shook his head subtlety before moving to crouch next to Kakashi.

"Most likely captured," Sasuke replied in a whisper. "Sakura mentioned he was spotted and lured the guards away from her so she could disable one of the devices. As I was making my way here from the contestant box, I overheard the guards mentioning that they captured one of the finalists and there was mention of clones being used as a distraction." Sasuke concluded before looking at a groaning Ame jōnin with suspicion.

Sasuke raised a hand and began using hand signs to fill in Kakashi about the rest of the information he had gathered and his suspicions about Ame being behind the attack.

Kakashi merely nodded in response before his eye wandered over the surrounding Jōnin and students that were seated in this section. He knew that the pair of Hyūga and the bun-haired girl had left during the intermission to visit the concession stands while the Inuzuka had left to visit the restroom. Odds were they were either still disabled or had been captured along with Naruto.

That left him with Gai, Kurenai, Mini-Gai, the Aburame kid, Sakura, and Sasuke to fight off whatever attack was going on and make his way to the Hokage.

First, he would have to assess how much of a threat the other Jōnin were to them at the moment. Things could get difficult if all those hostile villages decided to team up and take them out while they had the opportunity. While the masked Jōnin was confident they would win that battle, he didn't want to draw too much attention to their group at the moment. Hopefully, these particular jōnin were professionals and would be willing to set aside their differences until they could reconnect with their village leaders.

Kakashi quickly scanned the faces of the Jōnin that were around him to see if he could identify any dangerous opponents.

The first person that caught his eye was Shakuton no Pakura (Pakura of the Scorch Release). If Ame was behind this attack, which Kakashi was starting to doubt, her bloodline wouldn't be very useful to them due to its vulnerability to Suiton based attacks. Still, her Bingo book entry did note her talent with Taijutsu, dispelling Genjutsu, and dismantling Kanseijutsu. If those skills were noted in the Bingo Book, it could only mean that she was extremely skilled in those areas.

Pakura had caught his eye as he looked in her direction and gave him a subtle nod before moving on to fuss over the puppeteer kunoichi. Kakashi wasn't surprised that she had immediately lent her support to him. While Suna might not be on the best terms with Konoha at the moment, their relations were civil for the most part. Iwa had been making moves on the northern border of Suna for years and Kumo refused to acknowledge the desert village as one of the major powers in Genso no Kuni.

The next biggest threat was the Kiri Jōnin, Zabuza Momochi. Master of the Silent Killing technique and wielder of the Kubikiribōchō, Zabuza would be tough to put down if it came down to a fight between them.

While Kiri wasn't openly hostile towards Konoha, they weren't very friendly either. If there was one thing Kakashi could rely on with his group, it would be the fact that they would hesitant to stir up trouble with another village at this point in time. Rumors have been circulating about a great deal of unrest coming out of Kiri and while a civil war hadn't broken out yet, all the intelligence pointed to a war breaking out within the next few years.

For now, he would consider them a neutral party that needed to watched carefully.

Next, Kakashi took note of the jōnin from the villages that were openly hostile towards Konoha at the moment.

The busty blonde from Kumo was definitely a kenjutsu specialist from the was she carried herself. He could tell from her build that she was also more of a speed and agility type of fighter since she carried a tantō instead of the usual katana or nodachi favored by the cloud ninja. Given the fact that she was a jōnin at such a young age, he couldn't rule out a potential blood line or proficiency in two elements. Either she wasn't dangerous enough to be put into the Bingo books or she was fresh enough to be an unknown quantity.

Kakashi watched her for a moment as she coolly studied everyone around her with a calm and detached facade despite the fact that her entire genin team was missing. He knew that one of her genin had been eliminated due to injury before the finals, but the other two genin should have been by her side. Hopefully, her missing students would make her amenable to working with each other until the situation was resolved.

Moving on with his analysis, Kakashi sought out the second biggest threat to establishing a cohesive team from this mixed group of shinobi. Iwa. As he scanned the seating area, he couldn't stop the frown from forming on his face when he only spotted a single genin from the Iwa group. The fact that the rest of the Iwa shinobi were missing was highly suspicious in his book. While it was possible they were all unaugmented and rounded up while he was disabled, it was just as likely that they were involved in this whole mess.

The genin was glaring at everyone with suspicion and ill-concealed fear in his eyes. Kakashi guessed he was no older than 14 making him a second-year rookie. At least the boy had the wherewithal to stick with the group and keep his mouth shut. As long as the boy didn't give him any problems, he would allow him to tag along with them instead of simply slitting his throat to eliminate a liability. No shinobi wanted to carry around dead weight and given their hostile relationship with Iwa, Kakashi had no qualms with killing the boy outright to save himself time and energy later on.

The only brats he would tolerate dealing with were his own and he had put in a great deal of effort in eliminating the childish traits that bothered him the most. He was glad that his genin were a few years older when leaving the Academy because the last thing he wanted to deal with was pre-teen angst and bravado.

Kakashi's gaze drifted towards the Ame Jōnin and his kunoichi genin that seemed to be in a heated conversation with each other. Judging from their body language and facial expressions, the copy-nin suspected that they had a good idea who was behind this whole mess. It would be logical, considering this was their home turf, but the real question was. Were they involved?

He couldn't rule out the fact that they were planted in this section to ensure that this group remained subdued. If there was any threat to this mysterious group's goals, this would be the place to find it. Next to the Kage and Anbu bodyguards, this group would be high up on the list of troublemakers. He had no idea how skilled the Jōnin himself was, but the kunoichi genin had a very poor showing during her match against the Kumo kunoichi and the Suna puppeteer kunoichi. As he began considering various ways to interrogate the pair, the approach of the Nadeshiko group caught his attention.

It was obvious the Nadeshiko kunoichi suspected the Ame ninja of being involved with this mess, given their glares and tensed muscles. Kakashi slowly rose to his feet and began moving closer to the group so he could listen in. While he wouldn't interfere with their interrogation, he couldn't allow them to get too loud and blow their cover. If they threatened to reveal everyone before some sort of consensus could be established, he would intervene and put them down if necessary. Out of everyone in this group, he was the strongest by far with only Gai being able to put him down and he knew that all of them were well aware of this fact as well.

The rest of the shinobi in the Jōnin section stopped talking amongst each other to watch the confrontation with interest. A few of them were also moving closer to crowd around the Ame duo who were quickly becoming backed into a metaphorical corner.

"What the hell is going on here you Ame bastards!" Shizuka growled. "How dare you attack us like this!"

"It wasn't us! It was the Akatsuki!" The Ame genin shouted before being cuffed by the Jōnin.

"Keep your voice down Hitomi!" the jōnin hissed at his genin before facing the rest of the group.

"I'm sorry, Genjuro-sensei, but I won't be lumped into the same category as those naturalist freaks by some Nadeshiko whore!" Hitomi spat.

"Why you little bit-" the Nadeshiko Jōnin began before she was cut off by the Ame jōnin.

"Please remain calm, shouting and fighting amongst ourselves will not help us out of this situation. I'm sure you noticed that an organized group has taken control of the stadium and will likely not hesitate to kill us all if we are discovered." The Jōnin said in a placating tone. "The only way we can get out of this mess is if we work together."

"You expect us to believe you after the blatant acts of bias your village has been committing during these exams." one of the Nadeshiko genin accused.

"I have nothing to do with that." Genjuro retorted hotly. "My team was competing so I had no say or control over what happened during each of the exams. As for this attack, it would be extremely detrimental to our image to commit such an act while it is being broadcast across the fucking world"

"That might be true, however, this group didn't appear out of thin air. In order to pull off an attack of this magnitude, they had to be established in your village for quite some time." Zabuza interjected. "Now is not the time for village secrets. You want us to work with you? then you need to start talking. Otherwise, we will just cut you both down and figure this shit out for ourselves." Zabuza finished by placing his hand on the hilt of his massive greatsword.

There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the group, causing the Ame jōnin to start sweating as he eyes darted over the crowd surrounding him. Seeing as he was surrounded by suspicious foreigners, Genjuro knew he had no choice but to reveal one of Ame's dirty little secrets.

"Alright, alright!" Genjuro said in a resigned tone. "Look, Ame has been having trouble with two major Naturalist groups for the past few years. The first to cause trouble was the Human Liberation Front the second, more recent group, is the Akatsuki."

"I've heard of the HLF, they have a few members in Kumo as well but no one takes them seriously." The busty Kumo Jōnin replied. "I have never heard of the Akatsuki, though."

"Because, unlike the HLF, the Akatsuki was a respected group of local patriots. We would have never betrayed their secrets to foreigners such as you." Genjuro scoffed before his voice took on a sad tone. "Once the Akatsuki began to lend their support to the HLF, however, it didn't matter where the message originated from, the people began to listen. Many people began to realize just how quickly the foreigner's technology and influence had begun to permeate our culture. Once it was leaked that Hanzō, himself, was heavily cyberized, the conspiracy theories began to grow. The people began to lend weight to the outrageous beliefs that Hanzō was being controlled like a puppet. Civilians, nobles, and many of the shinobi began to abandon their previous jobs or duties and signed up with the Akatsuki full time."

"I find it hard to believe that Hanzō, of all people, didn't simply have them wiped out completely." Kakashi mused. "He isn't exactly known for his tolerance."

"It's not so easy to just wipe out the Akatsuki like that." Genjuro retorted. "Hanzō may be revered for all he has done for Ame, but the Akatsuki became the true lifeline of our people during the last war. While our forces worked to drive out you foreigners, the Akatsuki helped keep the peace. They kept our people fed, raided enemy supply lines so our shinobi could keep fighting, all the displaced families, and war orphans were clothed and sheltered by them."

The Ame genin huffed in contempt, earning a warning glare from her sensei before he continued speaking.

"To this day the Akatsuki fund and staff all the homeless shelters and orphanages without support from Hanzō or the Daimyō. They have been successful in turning popular opinion against Hanzō to the point that the people have been willing to look the other way when the group starts talking treason!" Genjuro said with gritted teeth.

"So, you are basically saying that no one in Ame can be trusted then," Pakura said coldly.

The genin couldn't keep silent any longer and glared as the green haired Suna jōnin.

"Shut up, you damn foreigner! We are not traitors to Hanzo-sama and anyone that supports those bastards should die!" she shouted.

"Hitomi be silent!" the Ame jōnin hissed.

"NO! I will not have us lumped in with traitors or hypocrites!" she spat. "All the citizens embraced this new technology! They all supported having lower cost goods and better working conditions! Now they choose to betray the man who saved us from annihilation for a few uneducated morons who have no real value to Ame? It's not his fault they are too stupid or unskilled to hold a real job!"

"Silence, girl. Do you want to attract their attention to us? Shizuka asked with a malicious tone.

"I think she is protesting too much." Kimiko sneered. "Maybe she is a plant to spy on us all."

There were a few murmurs of agreement while the rest of the group eyed Hitomi with suspicion.

"Enough of this petty bickering." The Kumo kunoichi interjected. "I don't trust any of you, and I am certain the feeling is mutual, but we are professionals. Our priority must be to reach our Kage and Daimyō so we can receive instructions on how to act. To do so, we must move as a group."

"I agree," Kurenai replied. "It is in all of our best interests to work together for the moment, regardless if we like it or not."

Kakashi nodded before he spoke. "As a gesture of good faith, I will inform you all of what intelligence we have gathered so far, and our efforts to free us from, whatever, disabled our cybernetics. After that, I expect you all to share some of your skill set so we can work on disabling the rest of those crippling devices and eliminating the threat."

Kakashi eyed the group and saw that none of the were openly disagreeing with his statement for the moment. When it was clear that no one would oppose him in taking command of the situation, he began to relay what information he had managed to gather from Sakura and Sasuke's observations and comparing it to what others had observed. Once that was done, they began a round of brief introductions with a basic summary of their skills included. This also helped them to identify who was missing from their current group.

Of the Jōnin, there was only the Iwa sensei missing. From the genin, the numbers were actually significant. Two from Iwa, two from Kumo, two from Kiri, two from Suna, five from Konoha, "two" from Ame.

Kakashi wasn't about to tell Genjuro that Sasuke had offed one of his brats already.

Kakashi made a mental list of everyone that remained and their _revealed_ skill sets so he could use his fabled intellect to develop a strategy and group formations. It was a challenge, considering the amount of distrust the group held for each other, but it was necessary. They would need to split up to effectively eliminate the threat without attracting attention, but if they spread themselves too thin it would be easy for them to be overwhelmed. After studying the group for a few more moments, Kakashi felt he had a successful strategy to employ and began relaying his orders.

Kurenai, Shino, Mitsuki of Suna, and Haku of Kiri would use their special talents to scout ahead. With Shino's bugs, Mitsuki's ant puppets, and Haku's ice mirrors, they should be able to move undetected with Kurenai using her formidable genjutsu skills to conceal the movements of Teams 1 and 2.

Pakura of Suna, Sango of Nadeshiko, Sakura, Hitomi of Ame, and Mika of Nadeshiko would stick to the heels of the scouting group so they could disable any devices or traps before the entire group was rendered immobile again. Being the tech specialists, it was up to them to ensure that none of the group was caught by the pulse emitters.

Gai, Kakashi, Genjuro of Ame, Zabuza of Kiri, Sasuke, Lee, Kimiko and Shizuka of Nadeshiko would focus on eliminating all nearby patrols and guards under the cover of genjutsu or Zabuza's Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist). They would also be the first to engage an enemy if the second group comes under attack while trying to disable any traps.

Each group would steadily move to clear their current section and all the outer ring hallways, slowly making their way towards the VIP box. Once they neared their final destination, they would have to reassess the situation and formulate a new plan.

There was a bit of reluctant grumbling as the group assignments were disseminated, but no one put forth any other suggestions, so the group began preparing for their tasks.

Soon, the first group of counter-terrorists would spring into action and begin the battle to retake Ame.


	9. Beta v1,7

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking**

 ** _Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts_**

 _Mental Communications_

 _[Chat Box/Text communication]_

Edit 1/28

 **Beta v.1.7**

 **Ame Central Broadcast Tower**

* * *

A small red light shines in a darkened lounge casting a faint and eerie glow over the ten unconscious genin who lie bound and gagged on various chairs, couches, or even the linoleum floor. With a soft beep of confirmation, the red light changes to a green hue before a clicking sound echoed throughout the silent room. Shortly after the clicking sound is heard, the door is swung open and the darkened lounge is bathed in a dim yellow light shining in from the hallway. The silence of the room is now broken by the sound of conversation and footsteps from the pair of men assigned to deposit their latest "recruit" into his makeshift prison.

The man flips a switch on the wall allowing the fluorescent lights to slowly flicker to life, dousing the room in a vibrant white light. If the teens hadn't been drugged so heavily, they might have stirred from the sudden change in lighting, but for the moment, they lay quiescent. The man studies the room for a few moments, looking for a spot to place his burden before making his way towards an empty love seat tucked into the far corner of the room.

"Tch. Some idiots can't follow a simple order unless you hold a kunai to their fucking throat. Yahiko says to treat the prisoners with care, but what does Toshiro do? He drops that hot little bundle on the ground like an inconsiderate ass." The first man grumbled as he eyed a bluenette kunoichi from Konoha lying face down on the linoleum floor in front of a couch occupied by a feral looking teen male with red markings on his cheeks.

"Who cares." the second man huffed. "Most of them won't survive Nagato-sama's jutsu anyways; especially the kunoichi."

"I wonder why that is?" the first man asked quietly after setting Naruto down on the couch gently.

"Something to do with chakra reserves is the rumor I heard. The smaller reserves they have, the more likely the chakra receivers are to burn out their chakra system instead of taking control of it."

The first man grunted in thought picking up Hinata and placing her on an empty lounge chair

"A real shame if this one dies." the man said as he studied the unconscious Hyūga with lusty eyes. "She's already quite the beauty and look at the rack she has on her." the man added with a low whistle.

The second man chuckled. "Let's hope she isn't a fighter like that blond brat. She might live long enough to reject your ugly ass."

"Fuck you, Hyōga." the first man said with mock anger as he made his way towards the entrance.

"Hey, it's not my fault you're fucking ugly." the second man said with a bark of laughter. "At least I don't have to pay my hookers an additional ugly fee."

"I'll be sure to thank your mother for not charging me extra then."

"..."

"..."

"Asshole."

The sound of the door shutting drowned out the rest of the bickering from the terrorists and the room fell silent once more.

 **Current Time - 70 miles outside of Ame**

* * *

A trio of helicopters speeds toward the "Hidden Rain" village (As it was labeled by those outside of the Genso no Kuni). While the overcast skies and lack of moonlight would make it difficult for anyone to spot the choppers as they flew by, the fact that these particular helicopters were outfitted with the latest in stealth technology made it impossible but the most sophisticated radar systems to detect their presence. Even the typically noisy rotors were surprisingly subdued, only becoming audible to those within 30 meters of the high tech bird.

The choppers were even more difficult to detect visually due to the highly sophisticated thermal optic camouflage that cloaked them in shadow. To the naked eye, the helicopters were completely invisible and would appear as nothing more than a very subtle visual distortion when viewed through the infrared spectrum. Despite the heavy rainfall, the profile of the heavily modified Jigabachi was still camouflaged perfectly as it descended closer to the group and flew low over the vast waterways surrounding Ame.

While the wasp-like model of helo was quickly becoming the standard transport for most militaries in the world, due to their versatility, it was a commonly known fact that only countries with close ties to the Nehan Empire were able to purchase the latest models. It was for that reason alone that the current group had been allowed access to these top of the line prototypes. The existence of these particular helicopters was highly classified and reserved only for the top special forces and black ops groups that operate in the interests of the Emperor's directives.

A very small and elite group of individuals that operate in complete secrecy under the direct order of the Emperor and his closest advisers. This group was formed to do the empire's dirty work at any cost and leave no trace of evidence behind; all to ensure that empire could never be implicated on the global stage. Actions that were usually denounced and markedly forbidden within the empire, but were still considered necessary for the greater good of the empire or furthering the Great Establishment.

Inside each helicopter is a team of six elite black ops agents that specialize in infiltration and anti-terrorism tactics. The specialists were currently running their usual pre-op equipment and weapons check in preparation for their upcoming mission and to settle their well-masked nerves.

The stakes for this current operation were quite high and the margin for error was nonexistent.

They would be making their insertion into a hot zone with little advanced intelligence. They would have to identify and eliminate their objectives without revealing themselves or their usage of advanced weaponry. Finally, they would need to gather any and all intelligence using unfamiliar systems and technology without the locals learning of their security breach. And just to make things more interesting, their total operation time within the area was restricted to no more than two hours at most. If they failed to reach the extraction point, with all objectives met, by the end of that second hour, they would be disavowed and left behind in hostile territory.

Even if they were likely to escape this continent and make it back home without leaving any trace of their presence, their careers would be over. For specialists like themselves, that usually meant dodging assassins until you managed to hide in some forsaken backwater on the other side of the world. If they were extremely lucky, they could land a gig in Public Security or one of the various mercenary and private security groups. Those jobs, however, were few and far between and most of them didn't provide immunity or protection from the Imperial Erasure Corps (A group that ensured that "rogue" or "treacherous" elements within the military were eliminated without a trace).

Failure of any objective or delays of any sort was simply not an option.

Avoiding detection, however, would not be an easy task. Of all the villages in the Elemental Nations, the Hidden Rain village was the most technologically advanced. Hanzo the Salamander had eagerly embraced any and all advanced technologies offered by his corporate diplomats without adopting any of the restrictions or limitations of the other villages. This included incorporating some of the most advanced sensor arrays and surveillance equipment to the standard seals and physical defenses used by most shinobi villages.

At least, they were given the most advanced technologies that the corporations were _allowed_ to give them.

For any special operations team- like the ones in the trio of choppers- such technology was easily bypassed with the right equipment. With this particular operation, however, the emperor had ordered only the best of the best be utilized to _correct_ the situation. These specialists were within the top ten of their chosen field of specialization and were called upon for their capability to adapt to volatile situations with little to no advanced intelligence to support them.

With the world watching the events unfolding live, the specialists would have their work cut out for them. Not only were there billions of eyes watching the events, there was also the unknown quantity with the mysterious Fūinjutsu barriers and detection seals that most shinobi villages used to deter intruders. Add in the vast amount of shinobi concentrated within the local area and the odds of running into one of the organic shinobi sensors was increased dramatically.

This would be the Nehan Empire's first serious attempt at conducting covert operations within the Genso no Kuni and probably it's most challenging attempt in the history of the empire's existence.

In the lead helicopter, the commanding officer for this operation begins the final debriefing before com silence is enforced. Once they reach the point of no return, all members are expected to run in complete autistic mode; relying on visual hand signals for communication and the strict point by point timeline for direction.

"Alright, boys, from here on out the level 5 ordinance and technology restrictions are in full effect. No weaponry without the fully autonomous self-destruct mechanisms are allowed out of the birds. The brass would prefer that we stick to native weaponry as much as possible, but the primary objective is to remain undetected at all costs. If that means using an unsanctioned weapon to maintain cover, then do so. Just be 200% certain that there are no witnesses left behind, even if they are non-combatants." The leader said with a firm cadence as their gaze swept over each subordinate. "As long as we keep to the schedule and don't deviate from the planned routes, everything should go smoothly. After receiving last minute intel, brass has decided that the main body will take route Delta to move towards Point Alpha instead of taking Point Beta as planned during the debriefing. Team Theta's goal will remain the same as planned. Once we have secured Point Alpha along that route, we will wait for the signal from Team Theta before we move on our target. Any questions?"

There was a round of negative affirmations proving that the group had studied their mission packets and were ready to complete their task. As per usual, the casual banter between this group of long-time companions began immediately after the leader turned their attention to briefing the other teams through a direct link to their cybercoms.

"Man, I can't believe we have been reduced to using these _antiques_. Hasn't anyone sold these guys some real combat knives or guns?" a deep voice complained.

"From what I heard the general populace isn't allowed to arm themselves." a bored sounding man responded. "They have to rely on the Shinobi or Samurai to protect themselves. Besides, there is nothing wrong with having a good knife fight once in awhile."

"It is likely that the native populace doesn't deem projectile weaponry as an efficient means of self-defense or combat" a high pitched digital voice stated. "The primary threat to most civilian villages is the roaming groups of bandits that are rarely equipped with nothing more than primitive bladed weaponry. Those groups are easily dispatched by the established Samurai presence and routinely purged by the local Shinobi village. The second biggest threat to civilian villages is the presence of rogue shinobi or those called 'missing-nin' by the natives. With an estimated 48.3% of shinobi being capable of evading fully automatic machine gun fire, the odds of a trained civilian militia eliminating a threat with the use of small arms is quite low. When you factor in the monetary incentives each village offers for information on these rogue elements, the civilians are more inclined to simply report the presence of the rogue and claim the reward. It's only logical that they choose an action that provides the best benefit with the least amount of effort and risk." the digital voice concluded.

"A shinobi might be able to avoid small and moderate rates of fire when they are aware of the threat. I'd like to see one dodge a high powered round fired from over a kilometer away." another man said gruffly.

"I've heard rumors that the shinobi are capable of evading damage from an attack of that type through the use of a technique called a 'jutsu'." replied the high pitched voice. "There are reports that they can use a chakra manipulation technique to redirect any damage they take to a small section of organic bole. Oh! I really hope we get to see that jutsu in action! It would be fascinating to witness a high-speed transfer of objects in a rotation manner through the use of chakra alone." the voice hummed in thought for a moment. "I wonder if the use of a log is a mandatory requirement for the jutsu or if there is some other form of social or religious connotation that designated its use as the object of choice. Considering the dangers of their profession, one has to wonder if said object would have eventually become a source of religious doctrine if it hadn't started out as one in the first place. Perhaps I should take some samples of the local arboreal-"

"Don't get too excited now." The deeper voice interrupted. "We can't have you wandering off on this mission."

"Awww. What about making a few observational recordings for documentation purposes?"

"No fooling around this time, I mean it!" The deeper voice said seriously. "We can't afford to screw this up, so stay focused on your objective. No uncloaking, no recording of non-mission related subjects and _definitely_ no souvenirs. Got it?"

"Yes sir." the response was given in a reluctant tone.

"Cut the chatter. We are five minutes out so I want complete com silence from now on. All communications should be through hand signals. The only acceptable use of cybercom link ups is a direct link to team leaders in order to notify them of a Priority 1 emergency." the leader said firmly.

"Roger" the group chorused before falling silent.

After a few minutes, the leader formed hand signs to instruct the team to prepare for their assigned insertion. It wouldn't be long before they reached the primary drop point for this operation and most of the team would have to perform an aerial dive into a large waterway on the outskirts of the village. The tense silence was only broken by the sound of straps being tested, boots being tightened, and weapons pouches being secured.

The timeline was quite tight, even for professionals like themselves. Fortunately, most of the team had fully prosthetic bodies so the long swim underwater wouldn't reduce their combat efficiency. Once the ground team was dropped in, the pilot would have to successfully deliver their support specialists without being detected. If the pilot succeeded in that task, the operation would be given the green light and all teams would begin their advance.

For this particular team, they would be securing two locations and facilitating the elimination of two targets of opportunity. Once they had their targets in sight, they would have to read the situation and wait for the natives to respond before they could take action. This was where the operation could get risky and the entire team couldn't help but feel nervous and excited for it would be the first authorized mission that directly pitted them against the elusive organic superweapons known as Shinobi.

Despite the empire's best efforts, very little knowledge has been gained on the true extent of the shinobi's combat effectiveness and limitations. Even with the massive gains made on the political, economic, and sociological fronts, the shinobi had proven to be completely inscrutable. In spite of the increasing amounts of shinobi adopting cyberization, prosthetic limbs, or even fully prosthetic bodies the enigmatic warriors had managed to keep a tight lid on the true extent of their chakra manipulation abilities.

Despite over a decade of study and research, Nehan scientists and military personnel were no closer to documenting or understanding the full extent of organic chakra manipulation. Beyond having advanced strength, speed, and reflexes, the shinobi were capable of utilizing a host of undocumented abilities in combat. This fact was only further complicated by the various chakra fueled abilities that were granted by bloodlines and other forms of genetic mutation. Not to mention the fact that there were an endless amount of chakra manipulation techniques or "jutsu" that a shinobi could utilize simply through study and training. What was even more fascinating, and scary, to the scientists was these jutsu had a seemingly unlimited potential. The shinobi had managed to create jutsu that were capable of simple matter or energy manipulation to esoteric concepts like quantum mechanics, time manipulation, and matter conversion.

Fūinjutsu, in particular, had garnered a great deal of interest, but learning the archaic and complicated art was extremely difficult for even the natives to learn. For the scientists of the Nehan Empire, it was practically impossible for them to study and replicate. Many scientists had considered the subject as a form of misdirection or hoax on the part of the shinobi to conceal their secrets until demonstrations of the basic seals like "explosive tags" and "storage scrolls" had been provided.

The fact that one could create a pocket dimension to store objects in with chakra-infused ink and parchment paper had been astonishing to scientists. When they learned that storage scrolls were considered low level "seals" it was somewhat understandable that the residents of the Elemental Nations had managed to seal off their continent from the world at large while simultaneously controlling the climate and flow of time.

Confounding but understandable.

The group had spent a great deal of time watching the various clips and videos the empire had amassed on shinobi in combat, but most of those clips were almost a decade old. The most recent footage of the current military exams in the Hidden Village of Rain had been eye opening to the seasoned war veterans. Never before had the shinobi allowed this "Chūnin Exams" event to be recorded or even streamed worldwide. The display of strength, tactics, and manipulation of elements by _children_ had been a shocking revelation.

If 12-year-old shinobi, fresh out of the academy, were this well versed in combat then the group could only wonder what a shinobi war veteran was capable of doing.

In many ways, the leader was grateful for this turn of events. While it was always fulfilling to root out and purge the government of corrupt officials, the last operation had been extremely dangerous to the team. Exposing the conspiracy surrounding the Laughing Man incident and the Murai Vaccine had unveiled a level of corruption so deep that it would have completely shaken the public's faith in the pseudo-democracy that was set up by the emperor to handle domestic issues. With the lower house elections around the corner, the Prime Minister refused to take action against the corrupt officials in fear of the government being labeled as defunct by the emperor. (In other words, he wanted to cover his own ass in the hopes he wouldn't be eliminated by the Imperial Erasure Corps) In order to prevent the guilty officials from covering up their crimes and escaping punishment, the Chief was forced to take drastic action that would leak the news to the public and force the administration to cave under public pressure. With the scandal leaked to the media, there would be no way for the guilty parties to bury or escape punishment and the Emperor might even see fit to eliminate them publicly as a lesson to the rest of the politicians.

Unfortunately, this method of action took a great deal of time to become effective. Time that would allow the ring leader, Secretary General Yakushima, to run his own publicity campaign to label the team as nothing more than a rogue military group attempting to overthrow the government in some form of coup. Calling on all his political clout and contacts, the Secretary General had an elite military unit- the Umibōzu- sent out to eliminate them all and bury the evidence of his corruption.

Fortunately, the team was able to avoid capture and leak the information before going to ground and waiting for the public outcry to oust the corrupted officials. Until that information gained steam in the public eye, however, the team would have been forced to lie low and dodge assassination and capture attempts by the Umibōzu. Before the leader could leave the country, however, _she_ received an encrypted message on one of her fake email accounts. The offer extended an invitation to the entire team to join the Gogyō task force and offered immunity from the Umibōzu and the current administration in exchange for their help securing the Elemental Continent.

The rest of the team happily agreed to assist the government task force. Not only would they avoid the boredom of a forced vacation, but they would finally get to face a real challenge. Most of the former members of Section 9 were war veterans and considered themselves the best of the best when it came to combat, tactics, infiltration, assassination, and information warfare. It was only natural they would want to test themselves against the mysterious Shinobi.

The fact that they were receiving a nice paycheck for their services was simply a bonus to them.

It didn't take long for the helicopters to reach the primary drop point. One by one the choppers lowered themselves towards the water as much as possible before the stealth systems were disengaged and the side doors slid open. In a well-rehearsed maneuver, the black ops team dropped into the water one by one as the chopper slowly moved forward. Once the last of the team was dropped, the door slid shut and the stealth systems re-engaged so the next drop could be made immediately.

Two of the choppers immediately gained in altitude and moved to hover far over the village of Ame where they would provide long-range visual support until it came time for the extraction. The last helicopter had been slower to re-engage its stealth system and left the side door open for several minutes before gaining altitude slightly. Once the door slid shut, however, the stealth systems were quickly reactivated and the chopper sped towards the Ame skyline to deposit the rest of its cargo.

The hidden helicopter made its way towards the city low to the ground to further decrease the chances it was detected by radar. Once in position, the chopper gained in altitude before pausing to hover over a moderate sized skyscraper located several blocks from the brightly lit arena. The cloaked chopper remained in place for several minutes before eventually climbing to join the others above the rain-soaked city.

In the heavy rainfall, no one would notice the strangely shaped blur that swung from the top of the building and began making its way across the rooftops towards the arena at a rapid pace.

 **One Hour Later – With Naruto**

* * *

Naruto awoke, groggy and light headed, from the effects of the drug he was injected with. Blue eyes opened quickly, only to snap shut just as quickly when the bright florescent lights flooded his optic nerves. Naruto paused for a moment before slowly opening his eyes to adjust them to the light. Even after his eyes adjusted to the light, he found his vision to still be blurry and swimming from the remaining sedatives in his system. He let out a muffled groan as he tried to sit up, but only managed to move his torso half way up. Being bound and gagged with chakra suppressors didn't allow him to do much more than squirm about futilely, but his stubborn Uzumaki nature forced him to keep attempting for several more minutes before the blond finally relented. Flopping back down after his failed attempt to sit up caused the room to spin and Naruto let out a muffled groan of protest. Naruto closed his eyes and forced himself to settle down before his stomach became unsettled.

He did not want to find out what would happen if he puked while gagged; it was certain to be unpleasant at the very least.

Kyūbi was making quick work of purging the sedative from his bloodstream, but with his own chakra system being blocked, the process would be much slower for his tenant. Until then, it was pointless for him to try and struggle out of his bonds. What he should focus on first was assessing his surroundings for any immediate danger. It would be pointless to start breaking out of his bonds if there was a guard on the other side of the room.

In his current state, he wasn't even capable of sitting up and looking around the room, so his best option was to get his sensory ability back up and running. With the chakra blockers on his body, it wouldn't be easy but it was possible to reconnect to his chakra system and access his reiki so he could sense life around him.

In truth, it was impossible to block someone from their chakra system completely without killing them. What most people labeled as "chakra blockers" were actually seals that dramatically suppressed the flow rate of a person's chakra system. The seals performed this task by attempting to reverse the flow of chakra based on current rate of movement within the chakra system. With the constant pressure against the natural flow of a person's chakra, it became impossible to use jutsu or call on their chakra to enhance their muscles. Not even people with top notch chakra control would be able to counteract the seals for very long, as the seals were constantly readjusting to the current rate of chakra flow. Naruto had an advantage in this situation, however, as he had a secondary source of chakra that wasn't controlled by his system directly.

While the Kyūbi's chakra system was partially tied to his own, it wasn't completely tied in. This allowed the Kyūbi to exert a subtle amount of control over Naruto's chakra system and vice versa. With Naruto helping to counteract the reverse flow of his chakra, they could work together to generate more reiki that wasn't affected by the seals. The only problem he had at this moment was the sedatives causing his chakra control to be completely shot.

Until the drug wore off, or the suppressors were broken, his sensory skills would be greatly subdued.

With resignation, Naruto decided to lie completely still and allow Kyūbi to finish its work. Every time he tried to slip into a light trance, however, a hypnic jerk would jar him from his partial meditative state. It felt as if he was flipping backward as he fell through the couch he was resting on. Resisting the urge to snap his eyes open and flail about in a futile attempt to catch himself, Naruto took a deep breath through his nose and held it for a few moments before slowly exhaling through his nose. His heart was racing from the strange, and persistent, vertigo sensation he was currently suffering from and his reactions weren't helping Kyūbi with its task.

He needed to calm and center himself so it would be easier for Kyūbi purge his body of the sedative and begin forming more reiki.

With his mouth sealed shut by tape, his usual breathing exercises wouldn't work, so Naruto took a minute to think of all the different exercises he had learned and modified one to fit his current situation. After several minutes of trial and error, he finally managed to enter a light trance. Relieved that he no longer felt like he was falling head over heels into an endless abyss, his mind began to clear up and his senses slowly began to return to him.

The first signatures he recognized were Hinata, Neji, and Kiba. He did not pick up on Akamaru's signature anywhere and wondered what these cloaked men had done to loyal hound. Akamaru was quite large and dangerous, so Naruto did not hold out hope that Kiba's faithful companion was still alive. Most enemy shinobi eliminated captured ninken right away because of the problems the intelligent and well-trained dogs could cause. Most ninken knew various methods to escape from cages or leashes and had some training in stealth and infiltration in order to help free their masters from imprisonment. If these terrorists had any trained shinobi amongst them, it was likely that Akamaru was already dead.

Naruto couldn't help feel a bit of sympathy for the feral boy. Kiba and Akamaru had been the closest thing to friends that he had in the Academy. While they had never spent a great deal of time together because of training and other responsibilities, Kiba and Akamaru were the only ones who were willing to meet up with the blond after school. Because of this, Naruto knew just how much Kiba cared for Akamaru and just how devastating the young dog's death would affect the Inuzuka heir. For an Inuzuka, losing their hound was almost akin to losing a sibling and Kiba was far more emotional than typical members of his clan. Naruto wasn't certain if Akamaru had been augmented recently since the Inuzuka had only recently started to augment their dogs. If Akamaru did have some cybernetics, it was likely he was still disabled within the stadium and possibly safe from harm.

In addition to the signatures of his fellow rookies, there were nine other chakra signatures he could detect inside the room. All but one of them were unfamiliar to him, so he hadn't encountered them long enough to bother memorizing their signatures. Naruto ignored the familiar signature for the moment, more interested in studying the unfamiliar ones so he could acquaint himself with the feel of their chakra. Once he had them all memorized, he studied the one familiar signature and had to fight back a groan of annoyance.

The signature he had recognized was of the Iwa genin Katsuo, the Doton user he fought in his first match during the finals. It had been easy to see that Katsuo held a grudge against him simply because he was from Konoha and eliminating him from the exams had probably only served to deepen that grudge. Knowing his luck, the Iwa genin would rather spend his time picking a fight or making things difficult for him instead of focusing on escaping from this mysterious group of terrorists. Hopefully, the guy would see reason and set aside his hatred until they had managed to escape.

Naruto doubted it would work out that way, especially if he was the one who tried to pull the group together. If someone else decided to take the leadership role, then Naruto would be more than happy to allow it to happen. If not, then he would do it regardless of how many enemies it made him. In this type of situation, time was of the essence and they couldn't afford to sit around and argue about who was in charge. They would be lucky to get a small window of opportunity to escape and failing to take advantage of it would only make things worse on all of them.

Once they were free, then they could hate him all they wanted. They would just have to get in line behind the rest of Konoha. It wasn't like he was unused to dealing with misplaced hatred for most of his life already.

As he felt the last of the sedative burn out of his system, Naruto began to divert his attention into breaking the chakra suppressing shackles on his hands and feet. Despite the advantage he had of working together with Kyūbi, the fluctuations within his chakra were too constant to exhibit the control needed to break open the shackles. While he could convert his reiki back into chakra, doing so would dampen his senses and that converted chakra would still be influenced by the suppressors. With the constant tug of war on his chakra system, he couldn't maintain the level of control needed to cut through the bindings with Fūton chakra or enhance his arms long enough to simply break the chains. That left only one option: To use Kyūbi's corrosive chakra to destroy the seals themselves so he could manipulate his own chakra and break the shackles.

The only problem with that option was that bijū chakra was extremely noticeable. Even an untrained civilian could sense bijū chakra.

Naruto tugged on his bindings in frustration before letting his head fall back onto the couch he was laid out on. As his mind raced through various ideas to try and escape, he was distracted by another explosion going off nearby. Unlike the explosions that rocked the stadium, this one sounded much smaller. The building still shook quite violently, however, leading him to believe that someone had set off the smaller bomb inside the building for some reason. Reaching out with his senses as much as possible, the bound blond tried to feel for any agitated chakra signatures or chakra flares that would signify combat taking place, but he couldn't sense anything significant.

What he did notice was that the guards by the door had rushed away from their post and were apparently making their way downstairs for some reason. Another quick scan revealed that there were no other chakra signatures within range of him. While his range was severely hampered, Naruto was hoping that the explosion would be enough of a diversion to distract any guards that he wasn't sensing. It was a big risk to take as any sensor nearby would be immediately alerted to his actions, but after a quick internal debate, Naruto decided to risk using the Kyūbi's chakra to break free.

Kakashi had always taught them that opportunities to escape capture were usually rare and always high risk. If they didn't take advantage of the brief lapse in security, they would be unlikely to find another one. Besides, it wasn't like they were going to torture them less for being complacent; shinobi prisoners were _always_ tortured to some extent.

Might as well try to avoid it if you can.

Naruto sent a silent request to the Kyūbi to lend him some chakra. It didn't take long for him to feel the rush of his tenant's chakra surging through his veins accompanied by the burning sensation and slight pain that came along with it. Naruto had to grit his teeth as the searing hot pain of Kyūbi's chakra spread through his system and began to corrode his skin. Even though he was on somewhat friendly terms with the bijū, he had avoided requesting the use of its chakra as much as possible. As a result, his body was ill adjusted to the effects of bijū chakra. Even the smallest amounts caused him pain and slight muscle damage. While he could acclimate to the use of some of Kyūbi's chakra through time and exposure, he knew of no way to eliminate the negative effects completely; so he didn't bother training himself to use it. If the Kyūbi knew how to eliminate the side effects, it wasn't inclined to share the process with him and Naruto wouldn't press the bijū on the subject.

Soon, the blond could feel the chakra suppression seals fluctuating as the corrosive chakra began to overpower them. Naruto let out a muffled grunt of pain as the Kyūbi increased the flow of its chakra to overpower the seals completely. After a few more seconds, the bijū chakra receded back into the seal leaving the seals, and Naruto's skin, smoking from the damage caused.

Taking a moment to calm his breathing and allow his tenant to heal his wounds, Naruto began centering himself to regulate his chakra flow. Once he felt the last bit of Kyūbi's chakra dissipate from his tenketsu and chakra core, he slowly began building up the chakra in his arm muscles while straining against his bindings. It didn't take long for the shackles to loosen up enough for him to slip his wrists out, but he received a few cuts for his efforts.

Once Kyūbi had finished healing his wounds, Naruto set to work freeing his feet and removing his gag. Naruto jumped to his feet and ran through a quick stretching routine to get his circulation back to normal before studying the room around him carefully.

The windowless room was nicely furnished and there were a few vending machines, refrigerators, and drink dispensers as well as a sink. The only other door he spotted within the room was one clearly labeled as a restroom, which he would be taking advantage of soon. While it wasn't pertinent for making an escape at the moment, at least he would be able to replenish his energy and soothe his hunger. Being able to relieve himself comfortably was always nice, a thought he was certain the kunoichi would share.

His eyes were drawn to a clock on the wall and he fought back a curse. If that clock was accurate, then it had been over two hours since he had been captured. In the overall scheme of things, it wasn't a great deal of time. In this type of scenario, however, two hours was a very long time to be out of contact and out of touch with the situation. The terrorists could have easily secured and fortified their positions in that amount of time. Who knew what the current situation was in the stadium where his team lies helpless.

First things first, he needed to scout for information in the best way that he could.

Naruto sat back down on the couch and quickly entered a light meditative trance to convert some of his chakra into reiki and study the signatures of everyone in the building. The various walls and hallways of the building would render his sensory net kind of useless, but he didn't need it in this scenario. Just through focus and the flow of reiki through his body, he would be able to pick up the signatures of everyone in the building and possibly a short distance outside of it as well.

In his mind's eye, the building came alive with chakra and reiki signatures of all living things. Most of the terrorists appeared to be concentrated at the bottom floor for the moment, with some slight agitation in their chakra systems. Likely they were on alert and tense because of the explosion, which could only mean that someone else had set it off.

Perhaps the regular Ame forces were enacting some kind of counter attack?

That didn't seem likely since he couldn't sense anyone else outside the building. Maybe they were simply out of range and attempting to lure the terrorists out? That didn't seem feasible considering the terrorists could use them as hostages. And it was unlikely the terrorists would remain quiet about their prisoners because it was the most effective way to prevent the Ame security forces from storming the place.

The next group he focused on was a large cluster of low-level chakra signatures a few floor down from their position. As he studied them closely, he realized that their chakra signatures were sluggish and unresponsive. Judging by how close they were together and the lack of movement, Naruto was certain that group was another set of prisoners the terrorists had captured. If Naruto had to guess, he would say they were a group of civilian workers from this building. It was likely they were bound, gagged, and drugged like they had been and were, therefore, a non-entity in terms of threats.

Moving on from the other group of prisoners, Naruto focused in on the small clusters of moving signatures on different levels of the building. Based on their movements alone, Naruto suspected these were patrol groups, especially since they seemed focused on moving between the stairwells and elevators. Their chakra wasn't fluctuating in any abnormal way, so it was likely they were calm or confident at the moment.

From his own experiences with sensing, Naruto had learned that not even Anbu were capable of suppressing the natural fluctuations in their chakra when certain emotions were triggered. When a person was curious, anxious, suspicious, scared, or angry, their chakra flow would increase and, depending on the emotion, would become turbulent or chaotic where it pooled in the tenketsu or chakra core. The Kyūbi had mentioned that it had to do with the subconscious mind preparing the chakra system to be used for attacking with jutsu or enhancing the body for defense or fleeing.

The next few floors were empty of signatures, which allowed Naruto to relax a bit. As long as the guards remained downstairs or patrolling the lower floors, he would be able to wake everyone else up without worrying about chakra flares or making noise. As long as no one started shouting, they could smooth out any conflicts and make a plan that everyone could agree with.

There were a few signatures above them, but they appeared to be several floors above them. Those signatures were also clustered in a single room and were moving about methodically. There was one signature amongst the group that had all the traits of a high-level Jōnin shinobi, but the rest of the people with them had civilian levels of chakra. Naruto couldn't determine what they were up to, but their chakra systems were slightly turbulent. Naruto equated it to anxiousness or excitement. Whatever they were up to, it had their full focus at the moment and they should be able to avoid attracting their attention if they avoided combat as much as possible. Once they were several floors down, they should be able to escape detection if that Jōnin level shinobi wasn't a sensor.

Naruto then turned his focus onto each patrol group below them and studied their threat levels and movements. Each group was made up of three average to low chakra level people with one Jōnin level shinobi in their group. The smaller signatures had little to no elemental natures to them, which signified that they were partially trained civilians or low genin and chūnin level shinobi. If it came down to a fight, the group surrounding him should be easily able to dispatch them all with low profile attacks.

The only problem with that scenario, however, was the Jōnin level shinobi that was patrolling with them.

All of the Jōnin level shinobi he was sensing were quite high level in strength. From what Naruto could tell they were, at least, B ranked threats with one of them easily being A ranked. With the right tactics, it should be easy for a group of their number to take them down, but the problem was preventing the Jōnin from sounding an alarm or attracting the attention of any possible sensors. The Jōnin would be far more difficult to ambush quickly, and all it would take was a simple chakra flare or low-level jutsu to alert the other Jōnin patrolling the building.

That was something that had to be avoided at all costs.

They could probably avoid the patrols completely if they split up into smaller groups and took separate routes out of the building. The only problem with that idea was convincing the others to regroup after the fact. If they wanted to enact any sort of plan to free their comrades from the Arena, they would have to stick together. The number of terrorist forces in the stadium would be difficult to deal with even if they were all working together. To break up into smaller groups would almost certainly result in them being captured again.

With a group as eclectic as this one, it was unlikely that they would want to work together to escape, let alone face a superior force.

Naruto memorized the patrol patterns for several minutes before he left his trance and set about freeing the rest of the prisoners. All his ideas and plans would be for nothing if he didn't manage to get the group awake and unbound before the guards decided to return. Once all the prisoners were freed and awake, he would worry about suggesting his plans to the group and hoping that they could come to some kind of agreement.

Rising up from his seat, Naruto set about freeing the others as he thought of convincing arguments to encourage the group to work together. Once the chakra suppressors were removed from their systems, it shouldn't take long for their bodies to purge the sedatives naturally. Chakra had a strange aversion to any sedatives and they never lasted long in shinobi unless there was some form of immune or chakra suppressant included.

While the others recovered, he would raid the fridges and snack machines to silence his rumbling belly. He had already noticed that the coffee maker had a built-in hot water dispenser. If he found some instant ramen cups, he was good to go.

 **With Team Kakashi**

* * *

Kakashi extracted his kunai from the corpse of another terrorist before wiping it off on the man's cloak and placing it back in his holster. So far they had been successful in clearing out two dozen terrorists from this section of the arena. Sakura had made some progress disabling the emitters, as they moved along the upper level of the PoseiDome, but it was only a very small fraction when compared to how many emitters were planted around the entire arena.

Unfortunately not everything was moving according to plan. One problem Kakashi had overlooked was the civilian spectators that were now beginning to gain consciousness and functionality. Many of them had woken up in a panic, screaming and flailing about until they were knocked unconscious again. It was fortunate that he had been placing silencing tags over each section as they moved, otherwise the panicking idiots might have attracted the attention of the entire terrorist force.

This problem caused a brief debate on how to deal with the spectators until they had successfully whittled down the terrorists to a manageable level. Evacuating them might cause the terrorists to panic and blow the stadium, but leaving them in the stadium kept the hands of the Kage and Daimyō tied.

In the end, Kakashi decided they would put in the effort to evacuate the ones that were freed as they made their way around the arena to eliminate the terrorist forces. The last thing they wanted was for the civilians to wake up and give them away and the only way to ensure that didn't happen was to control their movements until they were no longer a risk to their plans. Removing the hostages from the situation might raise tensions even further, but Kakashi would bet his Icha Icha that they were counting on that pressure to force the Daimyō into capitulating to their demands.

Most terrorists didn't have the balls to carry their threats through anyways, especially when it came to ritualistic suicide. Of course, these people could be fanatics, in which case Kakashi was certain they were all pretty much screwed anyways. Fanatics had absolutely no qualms about blowing themselves and taking as many people with them even if it amounted to nothing. The only way to deal with fanatics of that level was to eliminate them all without prejudice. That shouldn't become a problem for their group since they weren't planning on freeing everyone in the stadium at the moment. That would take far too long and they simply didn't have the luxury of time or resources to do so.

No, it was best to evacuate those lucky few that happened to be along their path to the VIP box. With a quick suggestive genjutsu or threats of violence/death, the civilians should remain placid until they dropped them off somewhere outside of the stadium. Then they were no longer _his_ problem and he wasn't responsible for what happened to them. If they were smart, they would high tail it out of the damn village and stay away for a few days at least, but you never really knew with civilians. Most of them were really quite stupid.

With a stadium this large, however, it would be easy to conceal small evacuation groups if they were quite and careful. In that field, Kakashi was more than confident himself and Zabuza would be capable of masking their actions before the leaders figured out something was wrong. Once they had secured their route to the VIP box, the risk of discovery would be minimal. All they would need to do is await the opening needed to eliminate the bastards and free their commanders. That lead Kakashi to think about the second problem they had discovered recently.

The second problem was the presence of high yield explosives that had been planted on some of the Arena support beams. Unlike the hardware on the emitters themselves, Sakura found the bombs to be very sophisticated and difficult to diffuse. The only vulnerability she could find had something to do with the signal sent by the remote detonator.

Kakashi was quite an intelligent individual and was hailed as a genius for his capability to get the gist of things quite easily, but Sakura had gone off a technological wavelength that was mostly beyond him at the moment. From what he gleaned from her little lecture it would be possible to block the detonator's signal and prevent the bomb from triggering on command if they sent out a larger signal of their own to block the first signal. It was a risk since they needed to ensure that the signal was far stronger than the detonator, otherwise, the bombs would only be delayed for a few seconds before going off. Sakura was confident she would recognize a system powerful enough to emit this jamming signal, but it might require them to leave the stadium and approach the Central Broadcasting Tower. That was something Kakashi wanted to avoid since they had the advantage of stealth at the moment. The terrorists were not expecting an internal threat and had likely secured the arena from external threats. If they left, there was no guarantee they would be able to return undiscovered. And that was only if they managed to stay out of the loyalist forces' grasp.

If the local forces spotted them they would either assume they were part of the terrorist plot and attack them or would demand that they follow their own orders or step aside completely. That was something Kakashi would not allow in the least. He would not put the Hokage's safety into the hands of an isolationist nation that didn't even bother to hide how much they despised Konoha.

The Ame Genin, Hitomi, had actually provided an alternative solution to that problem. She knew the location of a broadcasting booth used by one of the local stations to stream live events from inside the Arena. The booth was only used when the station was broadcasting locally, so the booth should be cleared of personnel at the moment since the Chūnin exams were being broadcast worldwide from the central tower instead. Sakura wasn't certain if the booth would have the equipment necessary to transmit a strong enough blocker signal, considering it was designed to send a local area signal instead of connecting with a satellite uplink. Since the booth was nearby Kakashi decided to send a small recon force to seize the booth and check if it would be viable for their plans.

Sakura, Sasuke, Gai, Hitomi, Genjuro, and Kimiko would make their way to the booth to investigate if it would suit their purpose.

Kurenai, Pakura, Sango, and Mitsuki would focus on evacuating small groups of civilians while the other group ensured to keep the evacuation path clear for them.

As the makeshift counterterrorist team moved out towards their new assignments, none of them noticed the strange, distorted blur that was following them from a distance.

 **1 Hour Later - With Naruto**

* * *

Naruto ducked behind a filing cabinet and scanned his surroundings cautiously. His senses picked up the locations of their attackers despite their best efforts to conceal their location. Catching Shotsuchi's eye, he relayed the information through the hasty series of hand signals the Iwa Jōnin had quickly taught them as they made their escape plan. While the signals were not completely dissimilar to the ones used by Konoha shinobi, there were still foreign enough that Naruto had to form them slowly and could not try to mask them in any way.

The Iwa Jōnin had been quick to assume control of the ragtag group of prisoners once it was revealed that everyone else were either first or second-year genin. Surprisingly, there had been few complaints or disagreements once the group got together to form a plan. Naruto was more than happy to avoid drawing more attention to himself by trying to become the leader. Since the Jōnin was actually accepting input from the genin on their plan of escape, Naruto was more than satisfied at the moment.

Kiba had been understandably distraught when he woke up to find Akamaru missing, but Naruto was able to calm the feral genin down before he caused too much of a scene. The fact that Akamaru had not been augmented recently was unwelcome news to the blond since it only made the situation worse. Kiba was no fool and knew as well as Naruto did what the practice for handling ninken was in a captive situation. As a result, the Inuzuka heir was still quite surly, but he had become grimmer and focused instead of loud and brash.

Neji and Hinata had been wary of the Kumo genin at first, but Satoshi and Shima had been quite indifferent to the presence of the Hyūga's in the first place. It didn't take long for the Hyūga pride to kick in and force Neji to behave in his usual professional and somewhat arrogant manner and Hinata was simply too kindhearted to be cold to anyone who wasn't outright hostile towards her.

Katsuo had made some snide remarks and tried to pick a fight with Naruto while he was debriefing the rest of the group on what he had learned and sensed, but a quick glare from Shotsuchi had shut the mouthy genin up fairly quickly. Katsuo still occasionally grumbled under his breath around any of the Konoha genin, but his teammate Mai was quick to silence him with an elbow to the ribs before they drew their Jōnin sensei's wrath.

Once Naruto saw Shotsuchi's signal to attack, he moved to cover Michio's- the kunoichi he labeled as "Suna Tenten" in his head- advance. Michio had just unleashed a wave of shuriken and senbon before being pinned down by a round of attacks sent by the terrorists. Flipping through hand seals, Naruto rose up to unleash a volley of water senbon towards the terrorist that was using some strange- and very noisy- projectile launcher to attack Suna Tenten.

When they first encountered terrorists making use of those strange objects, the group had been caught completely off guard by the loud noise and the speed of the small metal chunks that were sent flying their way. If it weren't for his instinctual reaction to evade when he saw the woman point an object at him, Naruto was certain he might have been hit right off the bat.

The Suna wind user, Taka, had not been so lucky.

While Taka had successfully sent a wave of cutting air to bisect the woman, the projectile had still managed to push through his Fūton attack and strike the Tessen (War Fan) user in the shoulder. The hole left by the metal chunk made the wound bleed quite heavily and had caused extensive tissue damage before it partially lodged in his bone. Fortunately, Hinata was able to see the object with her Byakugan and dislodge it with a small Jūken pulse before fishing the object out of his arm with a pair of senbon. While they didn't have stitching thread to seal the wound completely, Hinata was able to make do with bandages and a few healing jutsu. Unfortunately for Taka, the damage caused by the attack had rendered the wind user's Tessenjutsu completely useless. If he hadn't been able to form hand seals and use Fūton jutsu without his fan, he would have been out of the fight completely.

The terrorist was forced to duck as the needle-sharp barrage of water began shredding up the wooden desk he had taken up refuge behind. As Naruto had planned, the terrorist began attacking him instead, but his aim was wild. Naruto was quick to follow up his Tenkyū (Heavenly Weeping) with Suiton: Mizu Shuriken to destroy the desk the terrorist was hiding behind. That should flush him out of cover and give Suna Tenten an opening to attack with her next volley of kunai.

A dozen water disks made quick work of the wooden desk, forcing the terrorist to make a strafing run towards a doorway leading to the next office. The terrorist sent several attacks his way, forcing Naruto to duck behind the metal cabinet once more. It was a close call as he heard the metal chunks strike the cabinet almost as soon as he ducked and one of the chunks had successfully punched through the cabinet a short distance away from his shoulder.

Michio had been ready with her attack, however, and the terrorist didn't make it back into cover. A pair of shuriken and a single kunai struck true and the terrorist crumpled to the ground with a gurgle.

Naruto peeked around the corner and saw that the terrorist had taken a shuriken to the hand and throat while the kunai had been buried deep in his chest. Suna Tenten was making her way towards him cautiously to either finish him off or reclaim her weapons, but Naruto doubted the man would be able to do much of anything. Not only did the man have a shuriken stuck in his throat, but Michio had been able to disarm him completely. Naruto could see the projectile launcher on the ground several feet away from the terrorist. Naruto was tempted to pick it up for Sakura's sake but decided against it in the end. He couldn't be certain that it wasn't protected by traps or seals of some sort and, knowing his luck, he would trigger it on accident and injure himself.

The rest of the terrorists in the area had been quickly subdued by a combination attack from Katsuo and the Kiri genin that was using one of the infamous blades of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist: the Hiramekarei.

Naruto didn't know much about the sword, beyond the fact that it looked quite strange, but Suna Tenten had been quite excited when she noticed it. She had quickly rambled off a bunch of facts about it that Naruto hadn't paid attention to because he was too busy wondering why the terrorists hadn't taken the weapon for themselves. That only made Naruto wonder why any of them still held weapons in the first place. The first thing the terrorists should have done was strip them of any dangerous objects that would aid in their escape. Yet, the terrorists hadn't bothered to take their weapons pouches or search them for hidden weapons.

Either the terrorists were completely unorganized and inept, or they weren't concerned about them escaping in the least. That was highly suspicious to the blond since he remembered the so-called advice the terrorist had given him before he was injected with the sedative. Naruto suspected that the man he sensed upstairs was this Nagato character that he had been warned about.

Naruto's suspicions had only continued to grow as they made more progress in eliminating the terrorist patrols. Their group had only managed to successfully ambush five patrols before some weird alarm was triggered. Not only was the siren annoying and loud, but hallways and offices were lined with flashing lights that were similar to the flashes he had noticed from those strange projectile launchers. It had made the group even more jumpy and tense, and more than a few kunai had been wasted eliminating an oddly shaped plant or coat hanger that gave off a similar silhouette of a person.

Despite all this ruckus, however, the man upstairs and his little group hadn't moved an inch. Naruto had expected their chakra signatures to become agitated or for them to take some sort of action but they hadn't moved at all. In fact, whatever tension they were feeling before seemed to have vanished completely. The terrorists were completely calm and at ease, especially the high-level Jōnin.

It almost seemed like the man had been expecting them to make some kind of escape and was simply waiting for the right moment to confront them.

That thought made Naruto even more nervous.

He would be the first to admit that the people around him were quite skilled. Far more skilled than he had expected if he were honest. Yet, they still didn't hold a candle to that guy upstairs. Not even witnessing Shotsuchi's power firsthand had convinced the blond that the Iwa Jōnin was capable of taking that man on. While Shotsuchi wasn't a pushover, he was nowhere near the level of Kakashi. From what Naruto was sensing, even Kakashi would have a hard time dealing with this guy in a direct fight.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like they were walking into some sort of trap.

When the alarm had first sounded the terrorists had formed up near the bottom of the building to seal off all the exits, as was expected. The patrols had stopped their leisurely movements and began to make their way upstairs towards the group.

What was strange, however, was that the patrols or even the larger group of terrorists hadn't bothered to coordinate their efforts. The patrol groups sent upstairs were sent in one at a time, making it easier for them to be eliminated. Even now, after the sixth patrol group had been wiped out, that large group of terrorists on the first floor and the group upstairs remained immobile.

The prisoners regrouped in a larger office and posted lookouts while they rested and prepared for the next round of attacks. None of the genin were especially tired at the moment, considering the odd movements of the terrorists, but no one would complain about being able to conserve their energy in this situation. That would just be extremely foolish.

"What are you Konoha-nin seeing and sensing?" Shotsuchi queried. "That other group should have attacked us by now."

"I don't sense any movement from the guys upstairs and there are no other patrols heading our way," Naruto answered after a few minutes of sensing. "The group downstairs has grown a bit, however, and is now 35 members strong. From what I can sense, they are mostly low-level chakra users with a few Chūnin and Jōnin level shinobi. I would guess that most of them were civilians that have started receiving training recently."

"Which means most of them are probably using those projectile launchers," Michio noted.

Shotsuchi turned his attention towards Hinata who was taking her turn at scanning with the Byakugan.

"I don't see anyone moving towards us or any genjutsu being used, so I can confirm Naruto-kun's report," she replied without prompting. "There has also been no action or movement from the group upstairs."

The Iwa Jōnin fell silent as he leaned up against a damaged cabinet and began stroking his chin. The rest of the group was carefully picking through drawers and cabinets to see if they could find anything of use, but for the most part, the office was bare of anything of interest to shinobi and completely trashed.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at Hinata's use of an affectionate honorific with his name but decided not to say anything. While Hinata had been kind to him whenever they interacted, she seemed to avoid interacting with him unless absolutely necessary. She never made any overtures of friendship towards him at all and barely spoke to him directly unless they were involved in a group activity. On some level, Naruto suspected that she had avoided befriending him because her clan had warned her away from the "demon brat" based on how his first attempt to befriend her had turned out.

If she wanted to refer to him in such a familiar manner, he wouldn't complain about it. But, he would never consider her a friend if she lacked the courage to openly befriend him. No matter how kind she was to him in private, Naruto would still view her as just another one of those narrow-minded idiots that couldn't be trusted or respected if she felt she had to hide her association with him until it was "socially acceptable".

After a few moments of silence, Shotsuchi spoke up once more.

"It seems as if they have decided to simply wait us out at this moment." The Jōnin stated. "I had expected them to try and box us in and overwhelm us with numbers at some point but it seems like they are content to hold their position."

"What if we attack the group upstairs. You said they had to be important to their plans." one of the genin suggested.

"Are you some kind of idiot?" another genin snapped. "If those people are important then attacking them will only cause that large group of people to flank us!"

"It's not like we have any choice at the moment!" the first genin retorted. "If we move fast enough we might be able to take the important people hostage and use them as leverage to make it through the large group."

"The only problem with that plan is that the guy upstairs is the strongest person in the building by far," Naruto interjected. "It won't be easy for us to take that guy down. He has to be, at least, high A or S-ranked if his chakra is any indication."

"What makes you think that guy is that strong?" Kiba asked.

"Like I said before, his chakra reserves are quite large." Naruto reiterated. "Not only are they far larger than most of ours, but I can clearly sense a perfect balance of all five nature releases in his chakra. That means he has _mastered_ each element. The only other person I know with chakra like that is the Sandaime."

"That means whoever that person is they are a serious threat." Shotsuchi agreed. "It takes decades of hard training to accomplish such a feat. If this person is that dedicated, that can only mean they are highly skilled or have some form of undocumented bloodline. Maybe even both."

"Exactly. There is no way we can just rush in and take that guy out before the large group reaches us." The second genin said smugly before sticking her tongue out at the first genin.

"It seems we have no choice but to confront the larger group in the hopes that we can separate them somehow," Neji spoke up. "If they are smart enough to stick together, then we have no choice but to confront them all."

"Um, it looks like we won't have a choice after all," Hinata spoke up. "The larger group is moving out in force now. They are splitting up to cover all the stairwells and elevators."

Naruto frowned as he focused in on the group of terrorists. He hadn't sensed the usual fluctuations that were common for people about to enter combat. There should have been small spikes in their chakra as they were given the order to move out. Even the most experienced shinobi would have a small surge of adrenaline once their minds registered that combat was to begin soon and that small surge would have triggered the body to prepare the chakra system for use.

Their chakra would begin flowing faster through the gates and building up in the tenketsu. The chakra core would become more turbulent and "spiky" as it stirred up the reserves in preparation to be channeled and molded into jutsu.

For some reason, this group seemed almost resigned or bored if he was reading their chakra system accurately. In fact, Naruto would say their chakra felt subdued; as if they had recently awoken from a deep sleep or were all in some sort of deep meditative state at the moment. It was completely bizarre and made Naruto want to scratch his head over what he was feeling. He had never felt anything like this before, and his mind quickly went back to the various sensor books he had read during the training period for the finals.

Then it suddenly hit him why it was so strange. Every person in the group was exhibiting the same exact chakra flow rate.

That was something that should be completely impossible since everyone had a different level and density of chakra within their bodies. Not even identical twins had the same exact pattern and rate of chakra flow. It was like the entire group had synchronized their chakra with each other for some reason.

Before Naruto could ponder what type of effect the group could be using to synchronize themselves in such a manner, the Iwa Jōnin's voice caught his attention.

"How much time before they arrive here?" Shotsuchi asked.

"With most of the group taking the stairs, I would say the bulk of the group will be here in 15 minutes at the rate they are moving. A group of 8 is moving towards the elevators, however. If they decide to exit on this floor, they will be here in 5 minutes at most." Hinata replied.

"We have to move quickly." Shotsuchi began moving towards the elevator lobby. "We will have to do block or collapse two of the stairwells without damaging the building too severely. The rest of the hallways we will layer with traps to funnel the group towards that large receiving area in front of the elevator bays."

"Something isn't right about this," Naruto said uneasily. "There is something wrong with those people."

Shotsuchi paused for a moment and looked back at Naruto.

"What do you mean by there is 'something wrong with them'?"

"Their chakra is acting...strange," Naruto said before exhaling in frustration. "I don't know how else to explain it, but they all seem to be under the influence of- _something_."

"I don't see anything with my Byakugan," Hinata stated.

"I don't know if you could see it." Naruto looked at Hinata from the corner of his eye. "Their chakra is all flowing at the same subtle rate. Usually, that would mean a genjutsu of some sort, but I don't sense the invasion of foreign chakra in their bodies. It's like something is synchronizing or controlling their chakra for some reason." Naruto sighed before rubbing the back of his head. "It just doesn't make any sense for them to align their chakra in such a way unless someone was intentionally controlling it for some reason. Whatever the reason is behind it, it can't be good for us if they waited until now to use it before attacking us in force."

"Who gives a damn," Katsuo said with a snort. "If someone wants to mess with their chakra, I say let them. Makes it easier for us to kill all this trash and move on to what is important."

"And what is it that _you_ think is so important anyways?" Taka asked Katsuo.

"Getting back to the Tsuchikage so he could reward us for purging this filth and freeing him, of course," Katsuo said confidently.

"While I agree with the rock head on some level, the fact is that the terrorists wanted us for something," Michio stated. "The real question is why did they bring us here alive but leave the rest in the stadium?"

"When the group attacked me for capture, one of the men mentioned that the leader had a way of changing people's minds through the use of a jutsu. I don't know if that has anything to do with what Uzumaki-san has told us when we first planned our escape." Chōjūrō replied quietly.

"None of that will matter if we manage to defeat this group and make our escape," Shotsuchi said in a dismissive tone before making his way down the hallway. "As long as we effectively disable the elevators and control the stairwells, we can force the group to split up into more manageable groups. If we follow my plan to the letter, we should be able to defeat them all with minimal risk to ourselves. Once we overcome that challenge then we can decide our next move."

The rest of the genin remained silent as Shotsuchi proceeded to dish out instructions for the upcoming siege. Two pairs of genin dashed towards the northern stairwells and planted explosive tags on the flights of stairs above and below their current floor. One genin remained posted near the entrance of each, waiting for the first sign of the terrorists to near their current floor before they would set off the explosives. This would force the terrorists in the northern stairwells to fall back and make their way across the building to the southern stairwells or towards the center to take the elevators.

With the Northern approach covered, the genin would have an easier time covering the elevator lobby and the southern stairwells. To cover these areas, the prisoners split into three groups to cover each area that the terrorists could emerge from.

Covering the elevators were all the taijutsu and kenjutsu specialists like Hinata, Neji, Chōjūrō, Kiba, and Katsuo supported by Shotsuchi.

Naruto, Michio, and a Kumo ninjutsu specialist named Satoshi would cover the southwestern stairwell and flood the narrow area with as much low-level jutsu and projectiles that they could manage. With Naruto's Kage Bunshin, Michio would be able to reserve her own weapons supply while still contributing to the fight. Naruto's- now infamous- Suiton affinity would work perfectly with Satoshi's Raiton affinity to keep the stairwells dangerously slick and electrified at the same time. This group would focus on eliminating as many terrorists as they could. If they were about to be overrun, Naruto would trigger the explosive tags he had planted and they would fall back to help the southeastern group.

The southeastern stairwell would be covered by an Iwa support specialist named Mai, the Suna wind user Taka, his teammate a Suiton/Doton specialist named Tatsuo, and finally a Katon/Raiton user from Kumo named Satoshi. With the different combinations of nature releases in this group, Shotsuchi was confident they could keep this particular staircase blocked almost indefinitely.

While Mai was trained as a combat medic, she was proficient in the use of Doton: Iwadeppō no Jutsu (Rock Gun) as every good Iwa shinobi should be. Unfortunately, her chakra reserves were sub par due to her civilian heritage. Shotsuchi assigned her to a simple task of flooding the stairwell with as many boulders as she could safely form before she would fall back to mold chakra. Once the terrorists managed to clear a pathway through the boulders, Tatsuo and Satoshi would electrify the stairwell with a Raiton/Suiton combination until Mai had enough chakra to form another blockade. If the terrorists managed to break through that combination, Taka would hinder their progress with his Fūton jutsu until backup arrived from either Naruto's group or the central group.

As Naruto closed his eyes to focus his sensory skills on the incoming terrorists, he caught a brief flicker of _something_ making its way towards him down the hall. Instincts drilled into him from Kakashi's harsh training caused him to immediately fling a kunai towards the disturbance before he whirled about in a defensive stance. Tensed and ready to fight, Naruto tried to figure out just what he had felt and how the hell it had managed to get so close to him before he noticed it.

He knew it was a foreign signature because he had intentionally memorized all the signatures of those within his group. The blonde was also quite familiar with all the high-level terrorist signatures in the building, a side effect of unlocking his ability to sense and manipulate reiki.

Naruto had never been the smartest person in terms of long term memorization or complex strategies, but his ability to catalog the chakra signatures of large groups of people was quite impressive. The Kyūbi had mentioned something about his mind and body being affected by the increase in reiki within his body but would provide no further details when Naruto prodded him for more information. In the end, Naruto chalked it up to his reiki "recording" unfamiliar signatures in an attempt to connect to it in some way. Naruto didn't know why reiki acted in such a way, but the more he used and manipulated the mysterious energy, the more he could feel it behaving in a way that he was beginning to understand but couldn't describe if his life depended on it.

His eyes scanned the empty hallway and nearby conference room that had glass walls revealing the interior. The other genin with him were also looking about warily, knowing that he was a skilled sensor to be trusted. Naruto _knew_ he felt someone, but the signature had been brief and minuscule. It almost felt like reiki alone, but the whiskered blond wasn't entirely certain.

Maybe a clone or some type of spying jutsu?

"What is it?" Suna Tenten asked him in a low whisper.

"I'm not sure," Naruto replied after a few minutes of silence. "I think it might have been some kind of clone or surveillance jutsu. What I sensed was very small and lasted only a second at most."

Michio hummed for a moment before replying. "I hadn't planned on setting any traps behind us, do you think I should place one? At the least, it would give us a bit of warning."

Naruto shook his head. "No, save your equipment for the stairwell. I'll cover our backs with a few clones." the blond said before he created a pair of shadow clones to watch the hallways.

Michio shrugged before turning back towards the stairwell to prepare. "How much longer do we have?" she called out over her shoulder.

Naruto scanned the hallway once more with narrowed eyes before turning back towards his partner to respond. "Probably four more minutes at the rate they are climbing right now. I would say they are five or six stories below us now."

Michio merely nodded and entered the stairwell to finish setting up the rest of her traps using the equipment one of Naruto's clones had given her. Naruto followed after her, eager to study trap setups by foreign shinobi.

In the empty conference room, one of the "empty" chairs spun slowly, and a distorted blur made its way out of the room and down the hall away from the distracted genin. It had been a really close call, and the Leader had no idea how that blond had detected her presence. It was something she would have to think on later. Right now she had to set everything up so that the terrorists would fall at the hands of these prisoners.

Perhaps she would dump all the credit for her work on that blond. No one had ever detected her before during an infiltration mission, at least not unless she wanted them too. Not even during training had she ever been so close to being caught.

As she made her way towards the next rendezvous point on her schedule, Motoko pondered the blond with the strange marks on his face. There was something special about that boy but the Major had no idea why her ghost had taken such an interest in him. While it wasn't in the mission objectives, Motoko decided she would hack the surveillance cameras and download their contents so she could analyze the boy more. The footage might come in handy later on if they needed to perform some kind of cover up.

* * *

 **AN:** I apologize for the delay on this chapter, but things have been busy for me and the challenger. There was also a bit of a dispute on my plans for the future of this story, but those have been ironed out. Not anything major, but important none the less. I know I had told a few reviewers that Motoko wouldn't appear until later, but I decided to give Section 9 a bit of a cameo in the prolog chapters. There won't be a great deal of interaction with the team, given their mission parameters, and Motoko still won't come into play until the main story arc begins.

This prolog arc will be ending in 2 or 3 chapters at most, but I might be able to tone it down to 1 or 2 if some of the planned changes are approved.

At any rate, I thank all of you who are following along and I appreciate those who have taken the time to review or have sent me messages.


	10. Beta v1,8

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all associated characters are a property of Masashi Kishimoto. Motoko Kusanagi and all associated elements and characters of Ghost in the Shell are properties of Masamune Shirow.

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

 **Bijū/Summon/Android Speaking**

 _ **Bijū/Summon/Android Thoughts**_

 _Mental Communications_

 _[Chat Box/Text communication]_

 **Beta v.1.8**

 **VIP Box Poseidon Global Dome**

* * *

A small group of cloaked individuals huddled over a pile of crates as they spoke in hushed voices with each other. Several of the crates were opened revealing satellite broadcasting equipment, large television camera's and their mobile tripods, and large bundles of various cables that were different sizes, colors, and diameters. The whispered conversation would occasionally rise in volume before another cloaked individual would hiss at his companions to keep their voices down. While this occurred, all the of the individuals were gesturing wildly at each other or the haphazard pile of equipment in front of them.

Across the room, another group of cloaked individuals watched over the assembled Daimyō and their entourages with weapons clearly displayed to keep the unruly lords and nobles subdued. Occasionally, the fussy patricians would test the boundaries of their enslavers before being thoroughly reminded of their impotence in this situation. Already a few of the more vocal nobleman were displaying signs of bruising and minor cuts from where they were forcibly put in place. Now most of them were simply content to glare and mutter at their captors while placating themselves with the remaining beverages within their reach.

At least the brutes weren't preventing them from visiting the lavatories, even if the were forced to bear with the indignity of an armed escort.

The man identified as Yahiko was pacing restlessly as he kept a close eye on the Kage with his ever faithful companion, Konan, at his side. A few more terrorists stood in a line behind the pacing man, seemingly awaiting orders or offering their presence as some sort of comfort to the agitated man.

Hiruzen watched all of this with a calculating gaze and a bit of amusement at the agitated state of the terrorist leader. Usually, people became more frightened or nervous when the terrorists were agitated because they tended to become more violent in that situation. For Hiruzen, however, it was a sign that outside influences were moving against this mysterious group and the leader wasn't capable or determined enough to stop the inevitable from occurring.

Mainly the failure of their "mission" and eventual capture/death at the hands of the interference.

Sarutobi wasn't entirely certain committed the brazen idealist was to accomplishing his goals, but part of him suspected that this "Yahiko" wouldn't be willing to sacrifice the lives of others in the quest for his goal. When the teen began to order an evacuation of the area, that was Hiruzen was confident the worst would come. As long as that blue haired woman and the other terrorists remained, it didn't matter how panicked or unstable the boy became. Hiruzen also suspected that the brash young man wasn't one to come up with multiple contingency plans, having faith that his "righteous" goals would succeed because of some foolish belief that the nobility of his actions would ensure they succeeded.

A lot of idealists failed to recognize reality when it came to their delusions of grandeur. Far too many of them blinded by their morals and zealotry to recognize that the world was in the current state that it was in because those who were "good" in their minds refused to play dirty to achieve their goals. Only the ruthless, the cunning, the relentless were the ones to succeed in establishing a revolution. If one wasn't willing to make hard choices or be insidious to their enemies, one could not hope to succeed in moving their agenda forward.

Suddenly the orange haired young man stormed over to the whispering group and began speaking in a harsh, but low tones. Hiruzen subtly channeled chakra to his ears to listen in, keeping a close eye on the blue haired woman that was watching them warily.

"What the hell is the hold up over here?" Yahiko hissed.

"I'm sorry Yahiko-sama, but none of us have ever set up the equipment without Keiko's help." one of the men replied.

"I kept telling them we should put together what we know, but they don't want to face Keiko's wrath if they start without her." another man replied.

I don't give a damn what Keiko says or does, start putting together what you can now. Nagato is waiting on us!" Yahiko replied.

"But Keiko should have arrived already." another man spoke up before being shushed. When he spoke again, Hiruzen could barely pick up what he was saying.

"-minutes ago. - must be wrong if she hasn't-"

"I'll check to see what the hold up is. You guys just start setting everything up can now. If Keiko has a problem with it, she can take her complaints to Nagato." Yahiko growled out before storming back over towards his blue-haired accomplice.

Hiruzen noticed that both the Raikage and Mizukage were paying close attention to the terrorist leader, confirming his suspicions that they had been listening in on the conversation as well. Ōnoki seemed to be lost in his own world at the moment, something that made Hiruzen very suspicious. While the Tsuchikage was a notoriously opportunistic backstabber if there was one thing that Ōnoki hated more than anything was being disrespected and looked down upon. Hiruzen had expected the short Kage's pride to have been rubbed sore at his capture and imprisonment. Especially when he was forced to have a pair of attendants follow him to the in-suite restroom.

'That old fool must have been warned about this group by his spies within the village. Knowing that old bastard, he simply dismissed the warning as implausible due to his presence alone. After all, no one would dare capture someone of his status.' Hiruzen thought with a huff he concealed behind a ring of smoke.

The agitated leader whispered something into Konan's ear at a volume that was too low for Hiruzen to pick up. The woman didn't have any outward reaction in body language or facial expression but she signaled to a pair of men behind her before quickly leaving the VIP Box.

Taking a deep puff off of his pipe, Hiruzen pondered this turn of events and wondered if an opportunity to escape would present itself. If he could summon one of the lesser monkeys, it would be possible for Enma to reverse summon him out of danger entirely. It would take quite a bit of time to pull off, at least fifteen seconds. During that time, the terrorists might lash out at him or find some other way to subdue him. If he managed to pull it off unseen, he would be leaving his forces at the mercy of whatever group managed to take control after the chaos settled.

Plus the Daimyō would be really pissed at him, but that could easily be explained away if the man survived this mess.

Ultimately, Hiruzen decided that using that option would only be a last resort. He just hoped that the detonator had enough of a delay to allow him to escape with his life. Until then, he would wait for the right moment to convince this young man not to throw his life away on a failed plot. It might work with the right pressure applied, but Hiruzen sensed that now was not the right moment. His timing would need to be perfect and the young man at the very edge of despair so that his alternative would seem like a way out of a fiery death.

After all, it was far easier to make a statement while you were alive than when you were dead.

 **With Sakura**

* * *

Sakura and the recon group quickly rounded the long arcing corridor as they dashed away from the latest contact with the enemy. Hitomi stated that they weren't very far from the broadcasting booth when the counter-terrorist force ran into a roaming patrol of terrorists.

Kakashi and Zabuza and quickly engaged the group while ordering them to move on ahead. With a bit of creative wall clinging and a few hastily aimed projectiles, the small group continued on their way. Knowing that time was of the essence, Gai had ordered them to abandon stealth in favor of speed so they could secure the objective faster and bunker down if necessary. If the booth turned out to be useless to their plans, it wouldn't take them long to rest up and return to the larger group.

Hitomi suddenly veered to the left up a narrow staircase, causing the Nadeshiko kunoichi, Kimiko to skid awkwardly before retracing her steps. Gai hung back to watch the flank, and to keep an eye on Ame Jōnin Genjuro; who had fallen back a ways during their escape.

The booth was sealed off with a simple trap and a locked metal door that was adjacent to a large, shattered window. The hallway was slick with the infiltrating rain, and Sakura suspected that the terrorists had run into some resistance in clearing out this section before the EMP wave went off. It was the only reason she could come up with for such a hastily laid and obvious trap being left behind.

Hitomi wasted no time in disarming the trap and scavenging the useful bits while Sakura tested the door. Unsurprisingly, the door was locked, and Sakura could tell that the metal was quite solid when she rapped her knuckles on it lightly. She could overpower it with her strength, but that would be far too noisy. Fishing in her left hip pouch, Sakura pulled out a little canvas bag that contained a slim metal object that looked like a folding knife. Unfolding a few thin metal strips revealed a portable lock picking set.

It took Sakura a few minutes to pick the lock as she hadn't practiced much, but soon the door was carefully opened and the team peeked cautiously inside.

The room was faintly illuminated by the various computer screens and control panels that still retained power. There was a small circular dais on the far end of the room that was separated by a small Plexiglas wall with a large archway carved into it; likely where the anchors or reporters would stand in front of a green screen when reporting on events that were due to start or had just finished. The rest of the room was arrayed in an amphitheater-like fashion, arching along with the rounded outer edge of the massive stadium and having several tiers of levels that were lined with computer desks and chairs.

Most of the chairs desks were still intact, with only a few on the outer edge being upended or broken. A gust of wind rattled the thin metal shutters, revealing one of the massive windows to be broken. Sakura moved closer to study the broken window while the rest of the team filed in and sealed the door shut. Hitomi found the light switch, and a long line of florescent lights sputtered into life and illuminated the room.

Sakura kneeled near the window before following the tracks further into the room. Most of them stopped in the center, but there was still a large amount of water that had been carried into the room towards the reporter dias and the computer mainframe that sat alongside it. Sakura scanned the area with suspicion and curiosity. It almost seemed like something _large_ had been inside of this room only a short time ago, but the door had been sealed and a trap placed. Turning her gaze back to the window, Sakura began to wonder if the window had actually been broken into before or after the terrorists had seized control.

Hitomi had stated that this booth should have been empty, but the window had been broken, the furniture closest to the window had been pushed aside and broken as if there was a scuffle, then the shutters were closed to prevent any water from flooding the room and causing damage to the equipment.

Before Sakura could investigate any further, however, Gai called for her attention and pointed out a computer that he had accidentally woken up from sleep mode. Sakura stared into the reporter area for a few more seconds before turning away and moving over towards the green-clad Jōnin.

Sakura quickly scanned the computer screen before making a slight face of disgust at the operating system. She really hated OrangeX's Feline, and it was bad enough that they were using a very old version of Feline, Cougar 10.0. Cougar was slow, had very few plugins and applications, and was terrible at compatibility with other programs and hardware. If she was forced to deal with a mass produced operating system, the pinkette much rather deal with the various security issues that Nehansoft Doors was plagued with because that operating system was fully customizable and had far better compatibility with third-party programs.

Still, nothing was better than Linxus in her opinion, but it was far too complicated for most users. She tried to teach Naruto how to use it once, but he couldn't remember half of the command codes to run anything. In the end, she had given him a dumbed down version of Doors with a powerful anti-virus and malware removal program.

Removing her link necklace, Sakura plugged it into the back of her neck and extended the cable into the neural interface port. Soon she was parsing through the code directly to find the control software for the broadcasting antennae. It didn't take her long to find what she needed, but she was temporarily dismayed when she saw the system fell just short of the requirements necessary to jam the detonator signal. It was frustrating that the antennae were just out of range of what was needed, but there wasn't anything she could do about that. She was far too unfamiliar with how this system worked to bother hacking it and trying to tweak the values.

If only there was some sort of digital instruction manual for her to scan through, she might be capable of finding what she needed.

Suddenly, Sakura noticed a file folder that had just finished loading its contents. At first, she had disregarded that folder since it was filled with a bunch of video and audio files that seemed to be unrelated, but at the very bottom, there was another folder that contained a document file and an unassuming batch file. Sakura quickly opened the document file and began reading through it, only to let out a silent cheer at her discovery.

It seemed that a few of the technicians had been using this booth as a bootleg television station to broadcast an illegal hacker show. Sakura was a bit excited at the find because she had several recordings of the hosts' more creative approaches to infiltrating datapads and remote terminals. The underground hosts also went into detail on how to protect against ghost hacks and cyberbrain hacks because they felt strongly against such methods of infiltration.

Sakura quickly downloaded a copy of the folder and the batch file as a substitute autograph from the hosts, since the scripting within the file would be akin to having a unique signature applied on an external memory device.

With her fan girl moment over, Sakura began setting up the broadcasting program and following the directions to use the batch file to amplify the antenna's range by overclocking certain processors within the uplink and removing several security protocols. It wouldn't take long to set up and run, but due to the overclocking and disabled security measures, the amount of time she could send out the signal would have to be kept to a minimum. She would have to time the signal with whatever operation Kakashi planned and hope that they could contain the threat properly before the limit was reached. Otherwise, they risked a power surge and possible explosion which could trigger the various explosives planted nearby.

Sakura quickly created a script and, once everything was ready, had it pulled up and ready to run at a moment's notice. Now she just had to update Kakashi on the situation and wait for him to come up with a plan to eliminate the threat to the Hokage and Daimyō. Unplugging her neural interface from the port, she switched the program from optical input to manual input and quickly tested the mouse to ensure that it was functional.

The pinkette stood from the terminal and stretched for a moment before making her way towards the door to update Gai and the other Jōnin on the situation. Soon, Kakashi would rendezvous with them and they could form a new plan of attack.

Unnoticed by the group, a small wire was unplugged from the mainframe in the reporter's alcove. This wire was retracted into a small hole in the center of a large metal three-pronged claw that spun briefly. The subtle distortion faded after a fraction of a second, hidden by the shadowy corner the Tachikoma had concealed itself in.

 **With Naruto**

* * *

Naruto grimaced as one of his clones was dispelled by a barrage of metal projectiles. So far, his group had kept their stairwell successfully locked down without the terrorists advancing any further. Unfortunately, the terrorists were being far more cautious than he expected, leaving themselves out of range to be seriously injured or killed once the first few had died to the electrified stairs. Now Suna Tenten and himself were doing their best to keep them at bay while Satoshi kept channeling Raiton chakra into the stairs to prevent any forward movement.

A series of explosions shook the building, and Naruto paused to scan everyone with his senses. The northern group was running back to the elevator lobby to support the central group. The terrorists in the northern stairwells were mostly retreating, but a few seemed to remain behind to try and clear a path through. That would become a problem soon if the stairs didn't get completely destroyed as intended.

Naruto sensed a few large chakra flares from the southeastern group and knew that the terrorists were busy eliminating the boulders to clear a path. Judging from his senses, everything still seemed to be on track, for the most part. The southeastern group had only begun engaging the terrorists, so they wouldn't need support from his group for quite some time. As long as the terrorists continued to play the distance game, Naruto was confident his group could keep them locked down for quite some time. The only problem would come from Satoshi's chakra reserves falling low, but at the rate he was currently dispelling chakra at, Naruto was certain he could keep the stairs electrified for almost an hour before he needed to rest and mold chakra.

As for himself, well, he still had, at least, a few hundred more clones before he even made a significant dent in his reserves. That meant that Michio had plenty of ammunition to spare, as long as she continued to avoid the metal chunks sent her way. Already the Suna kunoichi had a few close calls, especially when the chunks bounced off the metal railings and were sent flying in different angles.

The only thing Naruto was concerned about at the moment was the fact that the large signature upstairs had moved towards the elevator lobby. None of the other signatures had moved with him, so Naruto wasn't certain if he was waiting for the group coming up, or planning to take the elevators down to join the main assault on their position. The man's movement had clued Naruto to the fact that he was responsible for the strange synchronicity occurring with all the terrorists' chakra flow rates.

Was this the jutsu that he had been warned about by the terrorist in the Arena?

Chōjūrō had also mentioned something about a mind control jutsu being used, but Naruto didn't understand how that was possible through the chakra system.

Naruto was drawn out of his thoughts when Suna Tenten called out a warning.

A large canister bounced off the stairwell above them and landed near the trio of genin before a cloud of green smoke began erupting from the canister. The genin were forced to back out of the stairwell completely as the smoke began to sting their eyes and lungs. Naruto tried to block the advance of the mysterious cloud by using **Fūton: Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough)** to blow the smoke away from them, but more of it just kept emerging from the canister once he had fully expelled the built up wind chakra in his lungs.

Michio tried using a small wind jutsu to help Naruto disperse the cloud, but that idea was quickly shelved when several more canisters were launched towards them shortly afterward.

"No choice. We gotta blow the stairwell now or we risk them charging through the cloud before we can react." Satoshi said between coughs.

Naruto was too busy coughing to verbally respond, but he held up a hand signal that meant "confirmed" before gesturing for the others to head towards the southeastern corner. Soon, Suna Tenten and Satoshi were running off down the hallway while Naruto primed the explosive tags to go off. With a hand seal and a brief flare of chakra, the time delayed tags were set to blow. Naruto spun around and began dashing away from the stairwell at top speed, stumbling slightly when the tags finally went off and caused the ground to shake violently from the explosion. Without a thought, Naruto created a trio of clones to check all the demolished staircases and keep watch over them.

Before he could draw close towards his second fallback point, however, he ran into the southeastern team along with Michio and Satoshi. They were all running back toward his position at top speed.

"Fall back to the center, they broke through!" The Iwa kunoichi shouted at Naruto as they ran past him.

Naruto cursed before creating one more clone to act as a sentry. The clone quickly ducked into a nearby office and henged itself into a potted plant near the doorway. The blond quickly fell into step with the others as they made their way towards the main group.

"What the hell happened?" Michio shouted as they ran. "You guys barely had contact with the enemy and they overran you so easily!"

"Shut up, air head.!" Mai snapped. "I don't know what they did, but all my boulders just disappeared!"

"What do you mean disappeared?! That isn't possible!" Michio retorted before mumbling under her breath. "Stupid rock head probably got fooled by a genjutsu."

"I have to agree with the weapon user. You guys should have been able to keep that stairwell blocked far longer than our team." Satoshi added. "That was the whole reason the Jōnin had me assigned to cover you guys later on."

"She isn't lying, you guys." the Suna ninjutsu specialist countered, "I literally saw all her boulders shrink down and vanish as if they were erased from existence. I even used up my entire water supply scroll to try and flood the stairwell long enough for her to make more boulders, but all the water just disappeared once it hit that group of terrorists."

"That doesn't make any damn sense, Tatsuo." Suna Tenten growled. "No one can make jutsu just disappear like that!"

"I know what I saw, Michio. Taka would back me up on that." Tatsuo said with a huff.

Michio and Taka both glanced at each other for a moment before Michio grumbled.

"Fine. I'm sorry I didn't believe any of you, but it just doesn't seem possible!"

"Whatever. Let's just get back to Shotsuchi and warn him about it." Mai

While this conversation was taking place, Naruto had been searching that location with his sensory skill out of curiosity. He could still sense the strongest guy upstairs, but now he was feeling a second source of the same exact chakra moving up the stairwell with the rest of the terrorists. If he wasn't busy running at the moment, the blond would be scratching his head in confusion. This was far different from the typical clone jutsu, as he could still feel an underlying layer of the original chakra belonging to that person.

Where at first the man had a chakra flow rate that was synchronized with the "leader", now his chakra had essentially been suppressed or taken over by the leader's chakra. Naruto was at a loss as to how it was possible for that much of a person's chakra to be converted into a completely different person's chakra. If any more of that man's chakra had been suppressed by the leader, Naruto was certain the man would die. No one could survive a flood of foreign chakra in their system because their body would essentially have an allergic reaction to it. It was the main reason that genjutsu specialists needed as much, if not more, chakra control than a medical-nin. If they injected too much chakra into their target, the illusion would fail to take hold because their regular chakra would reject it completely. Only by fooling all the senses and the target's mind completely could they ensure that the illusion remained intact and the invading chakra was mistaken as benign or normal chakra.

Now Naruto was beginning to understand the warning he received. If this Nagato guy injected his chakra system with enough chakra, he could fully control his body and even affect his internal organs. Even though Naruto knew his own chakra reserves were close to the level of the leader, it wasn't enough to safeguard him from whatever jutsu was being used. All Nagato would need to do is flood his system with a bit more than half of his chakra and his body would shut down to try and eject the source. If he tried to resist and help his body purge the foreign chakra, his body would start to purge the invading chakra but he would be forced to endure an increasing level of anaphylaxis. By the time his body managed to purge that much chakra, his lungs would probably be closed and his heart close to stopping.

The only other option would be to relax his chakra system in order to reduce the symptoms and place his chakra system into a sort of hibernation. The foreign chakra would be able to move about without resistance and his body would eventually adapt to it with time. Of course, the blond knew that he would be caught in whatever effects this strange jutsu would have on him. From his best guess, it was a way for the leader to ensure control of his "troops".

Either way, Nagato would win.

With the Kyūbi's help, he might be able to overcome that problem. The only problem with that solution was that Naruto was uncertain if he could survive a flood of three different types of chakra in his body at the same time. In small amounts, it was possible for someone to survive an influx of multiple different chakra types. It was the only way people could learn multiple affinities, after all. With a lot of chakra types actively clashing against one another, Naruto wasn't certain he would survive the encounter.

A grumbling growl from his tenant was the only confirmation he needed to underscore his suspicion.

Naruto also considered converting as much chakra as he possibly could into reiki as a potential counter, but he dismissed that thought almost immediately afterward. Reiki naturally tried to adjust and adapt to whatever chakra source it came in contact with. While Naruto might be able to exert some level of control over the invading chakra, the reiki would also be actively trying to bond and match the foreign chakra as well. If anything, it might make his body succumb faster to the jutsu.

His only option at this point was to avoid that jutsu no matter what. Easier said than done.

Naruto and the others quickly entered the elevator lobby to find the central group already under siege. One of the elevator doors was open and damaged severely. Naruto caught a glimpse of a few corpses inside the metal box before he was forced to evade an attack from one of the terrorists that had managed to take cover behind a large marble counter.

Naruto leaned his head back out of the way of a strange looking senbon that had an attached wire to it. The whiskered blond could see the wire trailing back to the object in the terrorist's hand. A flash of light was his only warning to dodge a second wired senbon that grazed his arm. His hair stood on end when it came in contact with the thicker than normal senbon, alerting the teen that the senbon had Raiton chakra, or something similar, running through it.

Naruto tucked and rolled behind a torn up couch before leaping up to loose a volley of shuriken towards the terrorist that was attacking him with those senbon. Upon landing, the blond was forced on the defensive as a terrorist armed with a stun baton charged out from behind a partition and began swinging furiously at him.

Ducking the initial swing, Naruto charged forward before the back swing could reach its apex. Naruto quickly wrapped his arm around the man's forearm, trapping his elbow in a joint lock. Pivoting to his right, Naruto forced the terrorist to drop his weapon by putting pressure on the elbow and threatening to break the joint. Looking over his shoulder, he saw another terrorist pointing one of those launchers at him. With his hand still locking the first terrorist in an arm lock, Naruto had no choice but to roll forward towards a overturned desk while keeping the pressure on his trapped opponent's arm.

The end result was the terrorist face planting against the ground while Naruto rolled behind the desk, narrowly avoiding another set of wired senbon. The blond breathed a sigh of relief when he was the needles skittering past him on the ground. If those had been the metal chunk launchers, Naruto wasn't certain he would have avoided damage.

Peeking out over his cover, Naruto couldn't help but feel worried at the current situation.

Suna Tenten was on the ground, twitching violently while a pair of terrorists were pointing those strange devices at her. It looked like she was being shocked by Raiton, but Naruto could sense no chakra being used by them or the devices.

Hinata and Neji were back to back, fighting off a bunch of melee users, but they were surrounded and outnumbered. Naruto planned to relieve some pressure off of them once he had a clear path, but it wouldn't be soon enough. Already he sensed three terrorists slowly closing on his position.

Naruto looked back quickly when he sensed a small flare of chakra, only to see Kiba was unconscious against the wall behind him. A large imprint of a body and a smear of blood down towards the ground made it clear the Inuzuka was sent flying backward by a large Fūton jutsu of some sort. Judging from the trajectory, Naruto had to guess it was sent from inside the elevator. The Kumo kunoichi was next to Kiba in a much worse state. She had large shards of wood impaling her body and the limbs were twisted at unnatural angles. Whatever had hit Kiba, had hit that poor kunoichi with more force and sent her flying through debris.

That was when Naruto realized that the flare of chakra he detected was the Kumo kunoichi's final death throe. Her reiki already beginning to fade away rapidly.

Whipping his head back around, Naruto saw most of the terrorists were closing in on Chōjūrō, Satoshi, and Taka who were in a triangle formation at the entrance of a hallway. Naruto could sense there was a group behind them at the other end of the hall, probably being kept at bay by Taka and Satoshi's jutsu. Their chakra reserves were still quite full so they should be able to hold off for a while yet.

Sensing one of his opponents trying to sneak around behind him, Naruto sprung into action. Flipping through hand seals, he sent a volley of water shuriken towards the pair of terrorist approaching him from the front and left. As expected, the flanking enemy from his right charged in with a downward swipe of his stun baton.

Naruto side stepped the attack, sending a palm thrust into the terrorist's nose and breaking the fragile septum and sending his opponent's head rocking backward. Naruto followed up the attack with a left hook to the kidney and a ridge hand strike to the throat. The terrorist clutched at his adam's apple and fell to the ground as he tried to free the blockage from his throat. Sensing an incoming attack from behind, Naruto instinctively ducked and lashed out with a mule kick.

His kick struck a charging terrorist in the stomach, pushing the man back and winding him slightly. Pulling the last of his shuriken from his pouch as he spun, Naruto sent the metal stars flying towards the enemy's head before shuffling forward with a front rising kick to the terrorist's head as he ducked under the short volley. Naruto finished off the falling target by bringing a powerful axe kick down on the terrorist's spine, driving the cloaked enemy into the ground forcefully.

The blond was forced to pull a kunai and deflect the incoming wired senbon from the last terrorist that had come after him. While successful in redirecting the senbon, one of the wires got tangled around the handle of his kunai and begin to shock him. Naruto's arm twitched and his grip loosened on the kunai when the shock traveled through him, but the blond was able to charge forward and close the distance with the terrorist as they tried to prepare the senbon launcher. With a wind enhanced fist, Naruto sent a powerful blast of cutting air along with a chakra enhanced left hook into the terrorist's solar plexus. The terrorist flew back a few feet before crumpling to the ground and spitting out blood.

Shaking his right arm out to try and restore feeling to it, Naruto quickly scanned his surroundings with both his eyes and his senses.

Immediately his attention was drawn towards the Jōnin, Shotsuchi, and his genin student, Katsuo, as they tried to double team the leader in a taijutsu battle.

The red haired male appeared to be bored at the moment, easily evading the well-coordinated attacks from the Iwa duo. Before he suddenly pivoted an attack and simply grabbed Katsuo's face. Naruto sensed a surge of chakra build up within the red haired male before he made a pulling motion as if removing something from Katsuo's head.

A chill shot up Naruto's spine as he saw the reiki leaving the Iwa genin's body as the leader retracted his arm. Naruto could actually see the cloud of reiki surrounding a faint outline in the shape of Katsuo's body. Katsuo simply dropped to the ground dead once the cloud of reiki and the other mysterious essence was "tossed" aside by the leader. Shotsuchi shouted a curse and charged in to try and catch the man off guard, but he was taken down by a few terrorists with those wired senbon launchers.

Naruto stood frozen when the red haired leader turned his gaze on him. The pair locked eyes with each other and Naruto couldn't move or breathe at the sight of those strange ringed eyes staring back at him. The Kyūbi was bashing against the cage while roaring frantically at the sight, stunning the blond even further.

A sudden flare of chakra to his left jolted Naruto out of his dazed state. Naruto felt the incoming jutsu draw nearer and fell backward out of instinct. The bolt of lightning narrowly missed his torso as his body fell and Naruto was quick to use the momentum from his fall to tuck into a backward roll from a follow-up attack by another pair of wired senbon. As Naruto completed the apex of his roll, he eyed another baton-wielding attack charging in. This attacker was a bit smarter than the others or had managed to watch and learn from the mistakes of his predecessors since he was attacking not with the typical overhead swing preferred by the inexperienced. Instead, this attacker was charging with intent to perform an arching downward sweep in an attempt to force Naruto to continue his backward momentum with another roll.

Instead, Naruto quickly channeled chakra to his coiled limbs and sprung _forward_ towards his attacker. Tucking his feet to his chest, Naruto easily cleared the baton attack and lashed out with a snap kick to the terrorist's face. His right foot followed behind the left, landing a chakra enhanced roundhouse kick to the terrorist's neck. Naruto's choice to add his additional body weight behind the follow-up kick ensured that the attacker was permanently out of commission but left him vulnerable to another attack from the wired senbon launchers.

By sheer luck, Naruto's follow through allowed him to miss the badly aimed electrified senbon but left him prone on the ground where he received a powerful kick to his ribs. Naruto managed to avoid receiving the full impact of the kick at the last minute by dropping his elbow in a hasty guard, but the force of the attack lifted him up off the ground and sent him flying backward with his breath knocked out of him. As he tried to adjust his body mid-air to reduce the impact upon landing, Naruto felt his backward momentum suddenly halt before he was being pulled forward by some invisible force. Lifting his gaze, the blond saw the red haired leader pointing an outstretched arm towards him and could feel the chakra drawing him towards the leader.

Naruto flailed about in panic as he recalled what happened to the Iwa genin who had been in his grip previously. None of his attempts to slow or stop his forward momentum yielded any results and the whiskered blond began to fear that his death was soon upon him. Shortly before he reached the hand of the leader, the redhead drew a narrow looking spike made of black metal and held it directly in Naruto's path.

Naruto fought harder against the force, flaring his chakra and reiki out of desperation and managed to angle himself to avoid being impaled by the spike directly in his chest. Instead, the thin, narrow blade punctured through his bicep causing the blond to fight back a cry of pain between clenched teeth. Naruto felt a firm hand clamp around his throat, closing his windpipe and forcing him to clutch at the hand choking him. He felt his right arm go numb as it was invaded by a foreign chakra through the metal spike and realized that the spikes were the mechanism the leader used to control the others.

Gripping at the arm choking him, Naruto attempted to lash out at the red head with a kick, only to feel another spike driven into his thigh. Just as the first spike did, his right leg fell numb, and Naruto could feel the invading chakra synchronize with each other before expanding in constant pulses from the spikes embedded in his flesh. Before he could retaliate against his captor, Naruto felt himself get slammed into the ground face first forcing him to let a wheezing cough as he tried to regain his lost breath. Almost instantly he felt two more spikes enter his left arm and leg and felt those limbs go numb as well.

Naruto took a moment to try and push back the invading chakra that was taking over his body, but his theory about having severe adverse reactions to the invading chakra was proving to be true. The more he attempted to control and manipulate his chakra in a method contrary to what the spikes, or their leader, wanted was causing his muscles and organs to scream in pain. The one thing he could take solace in, however, was that his reiki wasn't acting in the manner that he had suspected.

Not only was his reiki ignoring the invading chakra, but it actually countering the effects of the jutsu to some extent. If he had converted most of his chakra to reiki before the spikes were stabbed into him, he wouldn't have lost control of his body in such a way. The other thing the reiki was doing was providing him with a partial understanding of what Nagato was thinking and feeling at the moment. Naruto wasn't certain if it was due to the leader's chakra being channeled through the spikes or for some other reason. While Naruto wasn't receiving a clear image of what the redhead was thinking and feeling at the moment, it was still enough for him to deduce his motivations.

Right now, Nagato was impressed, annoyed, and frustrated. Naruto couldn't determine exactly why Nagato was feeling that way but estimated it had to do with how many people the prisoners had taken out before being subdued. Naruto was a bit put out by how suddenly the tables had turned against the group, but as he discreetly looked around from his position on the floor, he could see that out of the 35 or so terrorists that had attacked his group of 12, only half a dozen were uninjured. Not too bad considering they were practically outnumbered by a three to one margin.

The strongest sensation Naruto was picking up from Nagato at the moment was a sense of relief and vindictiveness. Naruto could tell that Nagato was intentionally flooding his system with more chakra and injecting more of his willpower through the chakra receivers than necessary because it was making him feel more powerful and in control of the situation. Nagato was angry at the loss of so many Akatsuki members in exchange for so few promising "recruits". At the moment he was looking down at Naruto as the only one worth converting to his cause but the vindictive side of the redhead wanted to cause him a bit of pain first.

Naruto didn't know why he suddenly knew what the spikes were called or what name the terrorist group called themselves by, but simply pushed those mysteries aside as just another strange thing that reiki was capable of. Already he could feel the reiki gathering around the chakra receivers, but they weren't reaching out to Nagato's chakra or converting themselves into a similar copy of the foreign chakra like it usually tried to do. That was the main vulnerability of using reiki over chakra.

Reiki was inherently flexible and more durable than regular chakra. Its presence and necessity in every living cell made it able to adapt and be absorbed by everything. Injecting reiki into another shinobi would only be beneficial to them and it would easily adapt and mold itself to its new environment. As a result, reiki could easily be converted into a usable source no matter where it was found.

Normally, a person would have to convert chakra to nature chakra in order to fuel a jutsu. Reiki was capable of skipping that step and converting itself directly into elemental chakra. Reiki also provided a stronger boost to muscles and organs than regular chakra because all affected body parts were actually breaking down chakra into reiki to augment their functions.

A chakra enhanced punch was actually powered on two fronts when it came to chakra. First, the chakra was broken down into components of reiki, spiritual energy, and physical energy. The muscles, tendons, and bone absorbed the extra reiki to provide a temporary increase to their tensile strength, density, and vitality by a very large margin. The physical energy components were added to the momentum and kinetic force created by the tensing of muscles and the power generated from the body when driving the punch forward. Finally, the spiritual energy components were used to gather and control all accumulated power and unused chakra to be expelled in accordance with the user's intent to cause damage to their target. That was why a massive crater could be created from something as narrow as a fist because the final component allowed the user to apply the accumulated force over a wide area or a narrow area depending on their intent at the moment.

This adaptability, however, made the use of reiki inherently dangerous against genjutsu users. Naruto already had a difficult time detecting and removing genjutsu due to his chakra reserves. With a great deal of training and effort, he had managed to be capable of dispelling most genjutsu in the usual way. When he converted a great deal of his chakra into reiki, however, he became powerless against illusions. The reiki naturally adapted and converted itself to the invading chakra and enhanced its natural properties, turning a low ranking genjutsu into something more akin to an A or S ranked genjutsu. Naruto had learned this lesson the painful way when he had first begun utilizing reiki in a widespread manner. The Kyūbi refused to help him remove the illusion, stating it as a lesson in humility and a warning not to become to gluttonous and power hungry over a sacred source of energy.

From that point onward, Naruto carefully moderated his use of reiki to avoid abusing the knowledge that had been granted to him.

"Nagato-sama, we have managed to subdue the rest of the prisoners. Out of the twelve captured, only three were slain." a terrorist reported.

"Bring me the Iwa Jōnin and one of the Kumo genin," Nagato said in a monotone voice.

"Right away, Nagato-sama." the man said before Naruto heard footsteps moving away from him.

Naruto could barely lift his head and look around with how much control Nagato was influencing him at the moment. Each time he tried to move his body, the pulsing waves of chakra he sensed from the receivers would increase until he relaxed his body completely. With great effort, he finally managed to turn his head to the side and look over towards the elevators.

The first thing in his vision was Nagato's sandals, as the leader was still standing over him and looking at him with a bit of amusement. After a moment, Nagato turned away and moved closer towards the rest of the terrorists. Naruto could also see the terrorists binding and dragging the rest of the prisoners towards Nagato before a struggling Shotsuchi and Satoshi entered his line of sight from the right. Both of them were unbound but had two terrorists holding their arms while a third was standing behind them with a senbon launcher ready.

Nagato walked over to them casually and placed his hands on both of their heads. Naruto felt that cold chill and closed his eyes to the sight of two more people losing their souls to this _monster_. He could feel Nagato's cold detachment and dismissive nature towards the people he had just killed. What was even worse was that Naruto knew that he had taken their souls on a simple whim. That their lives were simply ended for no other reason but a passing interest on what knowledge they might have held for their village made Naruto shake in a mix of disgust and fury. His inability to lash out only made his anger grow at the situation.

Naruto knew he was no pacifist, despite his devotion to the teachings in the Fire Temple Scroll. While his goal was to bring forth peace to the world through a combination of Buddhism and Ninshu, the lessons he had learned from Shōrinji Ken made it clear that one needed to reinforce their views with a fist when an open hand was spit upon or slapped away. Simply allowing evil bastards like Nagato to get away with their heartless and tyrannical actions would only further suffering and hatred in the world. The families of Shotsuchi and Satoshi would feel the pain of their deaths, their grief would eventually fuel their anger and eventually lead to a desire to seek revenge. When one sought revenge, sometimes they were willing to go to any length to achieve their desires, even if it was misguided or misdirected. The families of the dead shinobi might simply hate the Akatsuki for killing their loved ones, or they could hate everyone from Ame. That hate could then go further to become a hatred for anyone who was a Naturalist supporter or even anyone who wasn't augmented with cybernetics.

Their actions would eventually spread to the people targeted by their hate and, in turn, the pain and hate would spread to others. As one of the sayings Naruto had read in his scrolls stated" "An eye for an eye will cause the whole world to go blind."

While that could also be read as a statement against taking any action against another person, the author had gone on at length about the intent behind taking action against the spread of misery. The example he had provided was punishment for rapists. It wasn't necessary to rape a rapist in order to punish his actions and prevent the spread of suffering.

As someone who had been delving into the wonders of reiki, Naruto had become more in tune with life around him and the energy it held. For this reason, he was hypersensitive to the death of others and such a waste of life only made him more infuriated. Reiki was precious, which meant life was precious, and to throw it away for something so pointless seemed like blasphemy to the blond.

Naruto forced himself to calm down as he felt his chakra system become agitated with his anger, further exasperating his symptoms of chakra rejection. As long as those spikes remained inside of him, he had to be careful to calm himself and let his chakra flow as Nagato demanded. Closing his eyes and deepening his breathing, Naruto slowed his circulation and relaxed the tension in his body. As this was occurring, he slowly began to convert portions of his chakra into reiki. If he was cautious, he would slowly obtain more control of himself and pretend to be controlled until the time to strike was right. Until then, he would have to play the part of his puppet.

"Did you learn anything interesting from them, Nagato-sama?" one of the terrorists asked.

"Just a better understanding of how this group managed to defeat your men so easily," Nagato said flatly. "I'm still disappointed at how any losses we have sustained because of your failure to train your men properly, but I will be lenient in your punishment because we have a few very promising recruits from this bunch."

"Forgive my failure, Nagato-sama. I'll accept whatever punishment you deem suitable."

"Enough of your groveling. Take the rest of the survivors up to the studio so we can prepare for our broadcast. We are already behind schedule and Yahiko might resort to drastic actions if we do not contact him soon." Nagato responded.

"Is Keiko even alive?" a different terrorist asked meekly.

"No. This bastard over here killed her a while back." the terrorist spat. Naruto heard a shuffle of feet before a muffled cry rang out. "Cut her in half with a jutsu and left her to die slowly." the terrorist added.

"Did any of our broadcasting specialists survive?" Nagato asked in a blank tone, but Naruto could feel the rising anger that was being hidden by the red head. It was making it difficult for him to remain calm, but he was quickly learning how to separate his own feelings from his controller's.

"Y-yes. Tama is still alive and I sent her with an escort to the arena as soon as enacted your plan to recapture the prisoners." The man answered nervously. Apparently, he was quite familiar with Nagato to be capable of sensing his anger as well. Unless Nagato just happened to be extra harsh to his followers for screwing things up. Naruto suspected the latter was most likely closer to the truth.

"Good. At least you weren't stupid enough to send our last technician into combat after losing our main one." Nagato said coldly. "Now quit bothering me with your pointless chatter and move these prisoners upstairs. It is time we spread our message to the world and show them how futile it is to resist the will of the Akatsuki."

"What about the blond kid?" a female asked.

"I will deal with him personally," Nagato answered quickly. "This one will be a challenge, but well worth breaking. It will be fun bending him to my will," he said darkly.

Naruto couldn't repress the shudder at the swell of emotions that came through Nagato's chakra at that moment. It was beyond regular arrogance and maliciousness. It was like a mix of malice, obsession, cruelty, and pride all in one bundle before being amplified by some other feeling Naruto had no understanding of.

 **"It is narcissism and megalomania that you are sensing from this- _trash_."** the Kyūbi spat with disgust.

Naruto stiffened in shock at the Kyūbi's voice. The Kyūbi barely ever spoke to him during situations like this, and Naruto usually had to approach the bijū for aid before it was given. Naruto was surprised the bijū was in a talkative mood at all, considering the rant it had been on earlier.

" _I'm afraid I don't understand those terms, Kyūbi-dono,"_ Naruto replied

 **"It means that he believes himself to be a Kami destined for greatness and that all others are simply insects beneath him. Considering his skill at bastardizing those eyes for his foul jutsu, it is no surprise to me that this fool has become deluded with the power he has stolen."**

" _I apologize for not recalling what you said earlier,"_ Naruto replied. _"_ _I know you mentioned something about his strange eyes before. Would you help me understand what they are?"_

The Kyūbi huffed at Naruto's polite tone but seemed to be placated that his container wasn't calling him out on his panicked rant when first seeing the dojutsu the man wielded. For that reason alone, the bijū decided to enlighten his jailer.

 **"Those eyes are a manifestation of the Rikudo Sennin's own dojutsu, the Rinnegan. But this fool is not the one who held those eyes originally. From the feel of the chakra he is using to subdue you, I can tell those eyes do not belong to him. Instead, they belong to someone I thought long dead to this world. Someone that I despise among all others and should not have access to such power because of the threat he poses."** the Kyūbi replied simply.

" _So he has stolen those eyes from someone else?"_ Naruto queried.

 **"No. From what I can sense, these eyes have been integrated into this trash's body for some time. Probably since he was young kit based on how the normal capabilities have been altered to such an extent. If anything, I suspect Madara planned on using this fool as a pawn in some other scheme but somehow lost control of him."** the Kyūbi explained.

Naruto knew better than to press the Kyūbi for more information about Madara. The topic had only come up a few times and each time the bijū became extremely hostile and uncooperative. Not willing to risk losing a chance to understand more, Naruto switched to a safer topic.

" _Would you tell me more about the Rinnegan so I can find some way to free us? I know you don't want to be controlled again and I refuse to be used as a weapon for this man's goals. If he learns about your presence, I'm afraid neither of us will find freedom."_

The Kyūbi growled lightly in response and Naruto feared he might have pushed his luck too far until the bijū responded.

 **"Foolish. I will never find freedom unless you are willing to end your life painfully."** the Kyūbi said with a snort. **"But I refused to be controlled again, even if it is through the use of your frail mortal body. I will tell you what I know."**

The Kyūbi began to give Naruto a quick breakdown of the original abilities that the Rinnegan held. The Deva path which allowed control over attraction and repulsion; the Asura path which allowed the wielder to behave in a manner similar to the most heavily augmented cybernetic bodies and wield weapons similar to the technology of the foreigners; the Human Path which allowed for one to extract human souls and obtain all their knowledge; the Animal path which allowed them to summon various different creatures; the ability to absorb chakra and jutsu sent towards them with the Preta Path, and the ability to summon the King of Hell which was capable of extracting information or healing damage through the Naraka Path. In addition to those special abilities of the Six Paths, the Rinnegan allowed its wielder an innate understanding of chakra, allowing them to understand and learn jutsu faster. This was the reason why a Rinnegan user had an affinity to all five elements. The ability to understand chakra in all its forms allowed the Rinnegan user to create chakra receivers and chains which they could transmit their chakra through and also allowed them to share vision with anything they controlled or summoned. Finally, the Rinnegan could allow people to restore life to the dead, but at a great cost to the user.

The Kyūbi also added his suspicions about the extra ability to manipulate and control people through the chakra receivers as a unique ability granted to Nagato alone since the Rikudo Sennin himself had stated that each person who gained the "Exalted Eye" would be granted an ability suited towards their goals in life. The Rikudo Sennin had theorized that he could control inanimate objects with enough chakra receivers implanted in them but was certain that the use of receivers on living people with an active chakra system would only result in disrupting their chakra. In Nagato, the chakra receivers seemed to be different from the ones that the Rikudo Sennin had created during his time and were capable of expelling far more chakra than the sage himself could. It was for that reason alone that Kyūbi suspected it was an inherent ability instead of a regular skill because the Rikudo Sennin far exceeded the "impostor" in power and talent.

At the end of the explanation, Naruto was naturally quite speechless. He remembered listening to Sasuke's arrogant rants about the superiority of the Sharingan, especially in the presence of a Hyūga. Naruto had considered the abilities of the Copy Wheel Eye to be quite extensive. The Rinnegan, however, seemed _excessive_ in comparison.

" _I don't know how I will be able to counter all of that on my own, but I promise you I won't rest until I have freed us both from his control,"_ Naruto replied with determination.

 **"You have already discovered a way to free us. You will have to play by this trash's rules until the moment to strike appears. Don't hesitate when that moment comes and strike to kill immediately. If you fail, you may never get the chance again."** the Kyūbi warned before cutting the connection off.

Naruto knew the Kyūbi was still watching his every move now, even if the bijū had closed their link. Naruto could always tell when the Kyūbi was focused on his actions or when it was sleeping to stave off the boredom (Which was a majority of the time) When it made the effort to shut him out completely, however, he knew there would be no further words or assistance from the bijū.

A surge of chakra was the only warning Naruto received before he felt something sharp and narrow enter his neck and slide into his spine. Naruto gasped as the surge of Nagato's chakra swarmed through his spinal column and nearly blacked out completely once all five receivers synchronized with each other. By the time Naruto's awareness returned, his entire body was numb but he was standing in front of Nagato. Naruto mentally shuddered as he was forced to stare into Nagato's eyes against his will. With a few subtle motions, the redhead began testing his control over the blond and Naruto could feel a pulse of chakra emit from the receiver in the back of his neck before one of his limbs moved without warning.

Naruto fought off the desire to resist the commands he was being sent and focused more on trying to convert more chakra to reiki to help free himself. It took a great deal of effort now that Nagato had completed his justu, but Naruto was given a lucky break when the red haired male began removing the receivers in his arms and legs.

"Don't get your hopes up about escaping," Nagato said blandly. "Now that I have implanted my receiver into your spine, the others are unnecessary." He rose up from removing the last receiver in Naruto's legs before staring the blond in the eyes. "I know about your tenant, and I am certain he has told you about how futile it is to resist the will of a Kami. If anything, you should be grateful that you have remained pure enough to serve one such as me."

Naruto tried to speak but could feel that Nagato was suppressing his ability to respond or even react to his words. Naruto could only mentally glower at the Akatsuki leader as he continued speaking.

"I can sense your resistance to me and I find it quite amusing that you think yourself capable of defying me. The one sent down from the heavens with these eyes to restore the world to its pure state." Nagato said with a hint of amusement before his tone turned bland once more. "You will succumb in the end. One way or another. I will use you as an example to the world and when you see my power, you will submit like everyone else." Nagato said calmly before turning away and making his way towards the elevators.

Naruto jerkily followed after Nagato despite the fact that he wasn't resisting.

'Tch. For a Kami, you sure don't know how to control your puppets very well.' Naruto thought bitterly.

 **With Kakashi**

* * *

Kakashi and the rest of the counter-terrorist group had all assembled in the broadcasting booth as they began planning their final siege on the VIP booth. Not too long ago, Mitsuki had reported a large group of terrorists leaving the stadium. Shino had managed to tag a few of them with tracker insects that reported them splitting up before they left Shino's range and were forced to return. Judging from what little Kakashi had managed to learn about Ame's layout during the Chūnin Exams, one group had made their way towards the main samurai barracks while the other group was heading towards the central broadcasting tower.

With a large amount of pressure being relieved of them to clear the stadium, Kakashi was now confident they could begin scouting and planning an assault on the VIP Box soon. The silver-haired Jōnin had hoped they would pick up more reinforcements as they moved through the stadium disabling the EMP devices, but none of the freed hostages had displayed any skill or desire to fight. The only addition that was added to their group was one of Gai's genin, Tenten, who had the foresight to remain barricaded inside of a restroom until she heard combat.

They would just have to make due with what they had at the moment and hope that whatever distraction had drawn away the terrorists had been concerning enough for them to leave the booth lightly guarded.

While it was always a risk to storm the location where hostages were being held, it was also a known policy that taking the Daimyō or any of their captives hostage was a capital offense. A little-known fact about the policy in regards to Daimyō's being held hostage was that most Kage were more than willing to authorize a complete liquidation of the hostages if it was believed to prevent lasting damage to the system of governance.

While the Daimyō was the ultimate authority, the shinobi villages were far more necessary than most people anticipated during their creation. Originally, the hidden villages were to remain as small supplemental forces to the Daimyō's own standing army. Hashirama's intent had been to allow a gathering place of shinobi clans so that they could establish peace with each other and avoid being forced into the service of the various warlords attempting to establish their own myōden (1) through force while the Shogun and the weakened Imperial Family that once ruled the Genso no Kuni battled each other for control of the lands.

With the current Shogun of the lands being nothing more than a figurehead at this point, the loss of a Daimyō wouldn't result in severe repercussions for the Kage _if_ they were able to back a candidate that held the hidden village in favor at the moment. The current Fire Daimyō, who tended to favor Danzō and the advisory council over the Sandaime, was ripe for removal in Kakashi's opinion. He knew that the old Sarutobi wouldn't be adverse to such an action either, considering how much grief the Daimyō had been giving him since the Kyūbi attack.

Especially in regards to how Naruto was forced to remain as an unadopted orphan in an attempt to quell the non-existent tension between clans that Danzō had falsely insinuated at. Everyone else knew it was a dirty move orchestrated by the crippled elder to leave the jinchūriki as an isolated and unprotected orphan ripe for Root indoctrination. The only clan that held some tension against the village was the Uchiha clan, and that tension had been inadvertently abated when the clan's dog eat dog mentality forced what little unity Fugaku had cobbled together to fall apart when Sasuke exhibited a muscle disorder. If Fugaku hadn't been plagued by a series of attempts to seize control of the clan from himself and Mikoto, he might have succeeded in convincing the clan to unite for a coup attempt.

Fortunately, that tension had all but faded once Hiruzen gave the Konoha Military Police more jurisdiction and funding from the generous "taxes" paid by the Kyokutō corporation. The various rumors that Itachi was being groomed as the Godaime also helped to placate the Uchiha, even if they weren't actually true. Kakashi knew he was closer to that spot than the Uchiha prodigy, and even then it was still more likely to fall on Jiraiya's shoulders until he, himself, was ready.

The only problem with eliminating the pesky thorn in Konoha's side at the moment was the presence of the other Daimyō. Kakashi had no way of knowing just what the other villages thought of their supreme overlords at the moment. It also was a subject you couldn't simply bring up without risk of causing a fallout or incident about.

One couldn't simply go around and ask: "Hey, how do you feel about killing off your Daimyō and possibly all his heirs?" Especially when you were from a rival village that they could potentially hold a grudge against.

Kakashi cleared his throat to get the attention of the gathered group of shinobi.

"As you all know by now, most of the terrorists have been led away from the stadium due to some other interference. This gives us a very short window of opportunity to secure our Kage and Lords with a decisive strike. This strike will not be without a great deal of risk, however, failing to seize upon this opportunity will only lead to a worse result."

"What kind of risk are you talking about?" Genjuro asked with suspicion.

"If we storm the booth, it is likely that some of the nobles will be injured or killed during the assault. Our priority will be to eliminate the threat to our Kage, but that will leave us to deal with the fall out of our Daimyō's displeasure." Kakashi explained. "I can't speak for any others here, but Konoha has outlined certain- contingencies- in such an event. Contingencies that the Daimyō and his family are well aware of." Kakashi lied.

"Basically, you want to avoid being held responsible if our Daimyō or their entourage get killed because of your plan. Is that it?" the Nadeshiko Jōnin, Sango, asked with a snarky tone.

"I know it isn't really possible for any of you to make any guarantee, but, I will not move forward with any plans without some guarantee that you all will be willing to accept responsibility as well," Kakashi replied coolly. "The last thing any of us want is to deal with the finger pointing and blame game when it comes to the aftermath. Unless we can successfully divert the blame to such an extent that the Daimyō have no choice but to let the matter drop."

"What, do you want us to give you our word or something?" Zabuza said with a scoff. "I thought Konoha trained shinobi, not samurai. There are no words of honor or nobility amongst shinobi."

"Speak for yourself, _male_." Sango spat. "Kunoichi from our village can be trusted to keep our word to our allies, no matter how temporary they are. Until this mess is settled, I won't be stabbing anyone in the back."

"That doesn't solve the problem that we have." Kurenai butted in. "The problem we have is are you all willing to strike hard and fast at the terrorists in order to eliminate them instead of falling back to secure the Daimyō?"

Pakura of Suna decided to add her opinion. "I can vouch for Suna's ambivalence towards such a strategy. While our Kazekage isn't on the best terms with the Daimyō, we can ill afford to anger his family even more. The prospective heir is young, however, and he was not permitted to attend the exams."

Lee looked unsettled by the direction the conversation was taking, but a stern look from Gai kept him silent. The young taijutsu specialist felt it was wrong for them to essentially abandon their charges just to eliminate the threat, but it was also unyouthful to allow such a group to seize control through forceful means. It must be the same reason why his sensei appeared to be so angry at the moment but was not speaking out in his usual way.

Many of the genin were quietly whispering amongst their teammates about the same topic, if not fidgeting nervously on their own if they had no one to express their concern too. Some of the genin were scandalized that such a conversation was even taking place considering that the Academy had often emphasized the need to swear fealty to the Daimyō over everyone else. Very few of them were privy to the inner workings of how their village worked and dealt with the noble landholders of the continent, so there was no way for them to understand just how much of a hindrance the feudal system of government could be when it came to a separate independent militaristic force like the Shinobi Villages were.

Mitsuki, the Suna puppeteer, didn't seem scandalized or concerned at all. She had seen first hand how people suffered because of the budget cuts the Daimyō had been implementing on the village. In truth, she could care less if their Kage or Daimyō died in this event because both of them had wronged the village in her mind. The Kazekage, Rasa, for forcing the implantation of his forces despite the Naturalist leanings of Suna's populace overall; while the Daimyō was to blame for cracking down on the village for adopting foreign technology without his approval. Even knowing that the Kazekage had enforced the ruling to all active shinobi didn't stay the Daimyō's hand when it came to punishment, despite the fact that no one was going to offer the expelled shinobi asylum or a pension for refusing implantation.

Those who refused to accept implantation were either ejected from the shinobi program with no benefits or pension or were labeled as rogue-nin when they attempted to resign from active duty in order to leave the village.

"If you are asking what is more important to me, I will say saving Hanzō is more important than Daimyō-dono," Genjuro admitted reluctantly. "I'll charge into any mess to secure his safety. More than any others."

Sango mulled over the Ame Jōnin's words for a moment before nodding her agreement.

"Nadeshiko doesn't have a bad relationship with our liege lord, but we also hold our leader in higher regard. When the time comes for fighting, we will focus on the threat and hope that we move fast enough to protect the rest."

Zabuza just shrugged. "I've always said that the best defense is a strong and relentless offense. If any of those prissy nobles happen to be in my path, I won't stop my swing."

"In this task, I will follow your lead my youthful rival," Gai said seriously.

"We can only do our best to eliminate the threat. Sometimes that means sacrifices must be made." Kurenai said softly.

Pakura looked between the other Jōnin before sighing and nodding in agreement.

Kakashi studied everyone for a few moments before making his decision.

"Very well. Here is the plan I have in mind." Kakashi said before going into detail about their impending siege on the VIP booth. It didn't take long for the Jōnin to outline his simple and straightforward plan of attack, and after ironing out a few changes to certain objections by the other Jōnin, a plan was in place.

The group broke up shortly afterward and began to prepare for their assault with a few genin remaining behind to cover Sakura as she was needed to ensure the jamming signal was sent out at the precise time. A shadow clone of Kakashi's would serve as the relay between the two groups to ensure that both groups remained in contact with each other until it was time for the final assault.

Unaware of the hidden observer in the corner, the group's plans were secretly being relayed to the Major and the rest of the special operations group. When it came time for the final assault, the shinobi would be receiving help from a very unexpected source.

* * *

(1) Myōden – a large hereditary landholding that granted the feudal lords (Daimyō) their wealth and power.


End file.
